One year ago, Case Western Reserve University celebrated the inauguration of President Edward M. Hundert. As part of that city- and university-wide celebration, Hundert and Cleveland Mayor Jane Campbell co-hosted "Great Universities & Their Cities," an unprecedented, daylong colloquium designed to drive understanding of the enormous benefits that can result from strong partnerships between universities and the cities that house them.

Following the colloquium, Case decided to concentrate on several areas where it could combine its resources with those of community partners to make a true impact: technology transfer and economic development; Healthy Cleveland, with an emphasis on school-based health programs; cultural and artistic development; and neighborhood revitalization, including housing, K-12 education, human resource development and race relations.

Significant progress has been made in several areas; for example:

"Healthy Cleveland"

• The academic medical center Case has established continues to be one of the region's great assets. No other city the size of Cleveland has one major research university that has forged long-term partnerships with all of its primary health providers
• Agreements with the Cleveland Clinic Foundation, MetroHealth Medical Center, the Louis Stokes Veterans Affairs Cleveland Medical Center, capped off by Case's 50-year partnership with University Hospitals of Cleveland, continue to flourish and mean that Case faculty are working in all of these facilities, helping to improve health care for everyone in Northern Ohio
• The Case Research Institute, which was formed when the 50-year partnership with University Hospitals was signed, brought the new Wolstein Research Building online when it was dedicated in October 2003. The 320,000 sq. ft. facility was named for the Iris S. and Bert L. Wolstein for their $25 million gift toward the $110 million cost of the building. The gleaming six-story structure of limestone, metal and glass will be home for up to 700 research personnel
• Case's new medical school dean, Ralph Horwitz, brought a vision of thinking across the spectrum from basic to population science, and he is deeply committed to the social contract of academic medicine
• The Center for Health, Science and Society, directed by Case's former medical school dean, Nathan Berger, continues to grow as a vehicle for the university to help the city and its residents shape components of their health care delivery system through outreach and education.
• The center is integral to a new partnership involving the School of Medicine, University Hospitals, the YWCA of Greater Cleveland, and the Music and Performing Arts group at Trinity Cathedral that is creating a family-based substance abuse and HIV/AIDS prevention program. This program recently received a three-year, $1 million grant from the Center for Substance Abuse Prevention to measure the positive effect of the arts on the lives of children and their families.

Research/Technology Transfer

• The first annual Research ShowCASE, a trade show focusing on tomorrow's research held in April 2003, had 621 exhibits spotlighting the innovation and creativity taking place on campus and at partner institutions and served as a means for stimulating interdisciplinary collaboration.
• This year's Research ShowCASE is scheduled for April 2.
• Invention disclosures at Case rose from
  60 in fiscal year 2001 to 102 in 2003.
• Licensing fees went from $2 million to nearly $10 million.
• Case launched its first start-up company, International Imaging Inc. or I-Cubed.

Toward the Future

• Case also is aggressively partnering with institutions in other areas: University Circle institutions, including the Museum of Art, Museum of Natural History, the Cleveland Institute of Art and Cleveland Institute of Music; the Cleveland Municipal School District; and the Cleveland Play House.
• Case created the new Center for Community Partnerships to facilitate interaction with many community groups
• Case also is collaborating with the Cleveland schools and the Greater Cleveland Growth Association on hosting the national Vice Presidential Debate in October 2004.

Return to the online edition of the 2-12-04 Campus News.