With the grand backdrop of Severence Hall, Case Western Reserve University used its annual convocation ceremony to formally install new president Barbara Snyder.
Among those welcoming her was U.S. Congresswoman Stephanie Tubbs-Jones, who is also a Case Western alumna. Tubbs-Jones noted that Snyder is the first female president at the University.
Stephanie Tubbs-Jones: What a landmark year this has been for women in our country.
Tubbs-Jones said President Snyder's ascension follows the achievements this year of women in congress including the first female speaker of the house Nancy Pelosi. And she says it's vital that women take these leadership roles.
Stephanie Tubbs-Jones: We're nurturers and we understand the importance of allowing young people, particularly young women, to see women in positions of power. Once they see a positive example of what they can become, their possibilities for the future are limitless. Today we see that example in Barbara Snyder.
President Snyder spent the past four years as executive Vice President and Provost at the Ohio State University. Taking the top job at Case Western is a homecoming of sorts, however. She taught in the School of Law for much of the 1980s, before joining the faculty at OSU. Now at Case, Snyder says that school must create a strategic plan for the future.
Barbara Snyder: Beginning now we have the opportunity, indeed the responsibility, to create its future: to ensure our University lives up to its promise.
While she gave few specific details of her vision for the future, Snyder says she wants Case Western to build its endowment at the same time it invests in priorities.
Barbara Snyder: This will require difficult choices and fierce resolve. The strength of this great University rest squarely on the capacity and the commitment of its people.
Snyder says the creation of the strategic plan will be transparent, with public reports each year. There is one issue she will not have to deal with, though. After a few years of just using the name Case in its logo, the school has restored its full name, Case Western Reserve University, appeasing angry alumni who attended Western Reserve before it merged with the Case Institute of Technology. The new logo and banners appear to have ended that controversy. Dan Bobkoff, 90.3.