CWRU has launched an Institute for the Study of the University in
Society to which examine show the University has influenced, and in
turn been influenced by, the forces at work in society and in this
region.
Richard Baznik, is the director of the CWRU
Institute for the Study of the University in
Society
which examines how the University has
influenced, and in turn been influenced by, the forces at work in
society and in this region.
The central tasks of the
CWRU
Institute for the Study of the University in
Society are to research and write an updated history of the
University-last issued almost 30 years ago-and to offer courses on
CWRU's history and on the emergence and role of research universities
in society.
"An institution that does not understand how it has come to its
current state is unlikely to be able to move itself to a higher level
of performance and impact," the institute's prospectus states. "This
University has an opportunity at to examine its development over
nearly two centuries in ways that will benefit its current and future
initiatives and will also help illuminate the relationships between
internal and external factors that have been important to the
institution's emergence as a major private research university."
The institute will consider the CWRU's entire history, with special
attention to the factors leading up to the 1967 merger that formed the
current institution, and will examine changes within the University
since then in the context of the cultural, social, economic,
demographic and political trends of the period.
In addition, the project will look at the institution's impact on
its community, on all of higher education and on the larger society. A
key outcome of the project should be a more accurate understanding of
the University's unique heritage and a more widely shared awareness of
its prospects for the future, including a strengthened capacity to
achieve its new vision.
Elements of the vision include several items that are consistent
with important characteristics of CWRU's history: partnerships, such
as affiliations with University Circle institutions; transformation,
the merger of two predecessor institutions; experiential learning,
long integral to graduate and professional programs; and community,
including town-gown relationships.
"The University has a remarkable history, combining tradition with
youth and reflecting many of the most notable innovations and debates
in society over a period of nearly two centuries," Baznik said. "It is
the story of that unusual institutional life that I seek to tell,
complete with its connections to events and trends in the larger
society."
Along with an updated history, to be published in 2006-07, the
institute will create an interactive Web site plus CD/DVD versions of
an interactive presentation of the University's updated history,
presentations to on- and off-campus groups, and a database on CWRU
history and related phenomena, to be developed in collaboration with
University Archives.
In addition to working with University Archives on the database,
affiliations are already in place with the history department in the
College of Arts and Sciences, where Baznik will be appointed a
lecturer, and with the Western Reserve Historical Society which, like
University Archives, has offered special access to its holdings and
services. The Mandel Center for Nonprofit Organizations also has
expressed interest in collaboration.
During his 35 years at CWRU, Baznik has written and edited
literally thousands of institutional documents, including policies,
plans, presentations of institutional needs and priorities, reports
and profiles of CWRU programs. He has served in a succession of
administrative roles and has held the rank of vice president since
1987. In the 1970s he was also a lecturer in the English department.
"This is a project that I have been planning for nearly four years
and for which I feel I've been preparing for some 35 years," Baznik
said. "It's an exciting prospect."
Spring 2005 Semester Schedule
March 25, Crawford Hall 14: Amos Guiora, Visiting Professor of Law
and Lt. Colonel, Israeli Defense Forces, “Morality in Armed
Conflict."
April 1: Toepfer Room: Sharona Hoffman, Associate Professor of Law,
“Race and the Law.”
April 8: Toepfer Room: Robert Clarke Brown, Member of the Board of
Directors of the Metropolitan Washington Airports Authority and
Capital Markets Advisor at the U.S. Department of Transportation: “The
Politics of Airports.”
April 15: TBA
April 22: Toepfer Room: Robert Walters Ph.D., “Responding to
Humanitarian Emergencies – What a Geologist Learned at the State
Department.”
Parking: People who due to mobility concerns need to make special
arrangements for parking for the Public Affairs Discussion Group
Friday Lunch Series can send their request for parking to,
patricia.cornacchione@case.edu
or you can call 216-368-4440 and speak to Pat or Fay to make
arrangements.