News Bytes

NewsBytes

New campus, new era

On April 9, CWRU and Cleveland Clinic dedicated the centerpiece of their new Health Education Campus, the soaring Sheila and Eric Samson Pavilion. The $515 million complex will begin hosting 2,200 nursing, dental and medical students when it opens for classes in July. It will expand the CWRU campus west and more closely align the university with the world-renowned Cleveland Clinic.

A CWRU exclusive

A study by the website 24/7 Wall St. ranked Case Western Reserve University the most exclusive university in Ohio, with an acceptance rate of 33 percent. About 75 percent of CWRU students scored above 1340 on the SAT, the study found.

Graduation keynote

There are many lessons Beth Mooney could share with the Class of 2019 when she delivers the commencement address May 19, including curious routes to success. On her start to becoming chairman and chief executive officer of Cleveland-based KeyCorp, one of the nation’s largest banks, Mooney earned a history degree from the University of Texas at Austin.

Dartmouth taps Case talent

Alexis Abramson, a Case professor of engineering and co-director of the Great Lakes Energy Institute, is heading to New Hampshire to become dean of the school of engineering at Dartmouth College. She becomes only the second woman to serve as dean in that school’s 150-year history.

Pondering the rankings

The Case School of Engineering came in at 52, just missing the Top 50, in the annual college rankings of U.S. News and World Report. Dean Venkataramanan Balakrishnan noted that the school’s overall score actually rose, as did its peer assessment score, which reflects Case’s reputation among other top engineering schools. He sees strengths to build upon.

“The U.S. News methodology is complex, and while the end result this year was not what we’d hoped for, the increases in these areas are encouraging,” he told The Observer. “We have several initiatives in the works to enhance our research enterprise, and we are optimistic that this will help boost our rankings in the next few years.”

Barking Spider reborn

One of Case’s favorite campus haunts reopened this spring in a new set of threads. The Barking Spider Tavern is now Cosmic Dave’s Rock Club, a newfangled franchise of the local Dave’s Cosmic Subs chain.

For 30 years, the Spider staged bands and folkies in the historic carriage house near the heart of campus. Cosmic Dave’s will bring back the live music and full bar while serving up subs in its '60s tie-dyed vibe. Right on.

Healthy Midwest tech

Investment in Midwest healthcare startups continues to grow, especially for IT and software companies. According to the annual investment report by BioEnterprise, Midwest health care companies raised $2.5 billion in capital last year, surpassing a healthy 2017. Attracting the most investment was Minneapolis ($664 million) followed by Chicago ($551 million) and Cleveland ($294 million).

Rockwell looking cooler

How popular is software engineering talent? Rockwell Automation hopes to hire 150 software engineers in Cleveland alone this year, Crain’s Cleveland Business reported. To attract the techies, the engineering giant is shaping an edgier brand. In February, Rockwell hosted a hackathon at its Mayfield Heights offices, its first ever in North America.