Case Western Reserve University

Case Western Reserve University (also known as Case Western Reserve, Case Western, Case, Reserve, and CWRU) is a private research university in Cleveland, Ohio, USA. The university was created in 1967 by the federation of Case Institute of Technology (founded in 1881 by Leonard Case Jr.) and Western Reserve University (founded in 1826 in the area that was once the Connecticut Western Reserve). TIME magazine described the merger as the creation of "Cleveland's Big-Leaguer" university.

In U.S. News & World Report's 2013 rankings, Case Western Reserve's undergraduate program ranked 37th among national universities. The University is associated with 16 Nobel Laureates. Other notable alumni include Paul Buchheit, creator and lead developer of Gmail; Craig Newmark, founder of craigslist.org; and Peter Tippett, who developed the first anti-virus software, Vaccine, which Symantec purchased and turned into the popular Norton AntiVirus. Case Western Reserve is particularly well known for its medical school, dental school, law school, Frances Payne Bolton School of Nursing, Department of Biomedical Engineering and its biomedical teaching and research capabilities. Case Western is a member of the Association of American Universities.

The university is approximately five miles (8 km) east of downtown Cleveland in University Circle. It is contained within a 550-acre (220 ha) area containing numerous educational, medical, and cultural institutions. Case Western Reserve has a number of programs taught in conjunction with nearby institutions, including the Cleveland Clinic, the University Hospitals of Cleveland, the Louis Stokes Cleveland Department of Veteran's Affairs Medical Center, Cleveland Institute of Music, the Cleveland Hearing & Speech Center, the Cleveland Museum of Art, the Cleveland Museum of Natural History, and the Cleveland Play House.

Case Western Reserve was the site of the famous Michelson-Morley interferometer experiment, conducted in 1887 by A. A. Michelson of Case School of Applied Science and E. W. Morley of Western Reserve University. This experiment proved the non-existence of the luminiferous ether and was later cited as convincing evidence in support of special relativity as proposed by Albert Einstein in 1905. Michelson became the first American to win a Nobel Prize in science. The commemorative Michelson-Morley Memorial Fountain is located on campus, near where the actual experiment was performed.

History
Case Western Reserve University was created in 1967, when Western Reserve University and Case Institute of Technology (formerly Case School of Applied Science), institutions that had been neighbors for 81 years, formally federated.

Western Reserve University
Western Reserve College was founded in 1826 in Hudson, Ohio, which, at the time, was the region's most populated area and named for the Connecticut Western Reserve, out of which the area arose. The nearby city of Cleveland, located about 26 mi to its northwest, had only begun to grow. Western Reserve College, or "Reserve" as it was popularly called, was the first college in northern Ohio.

By 1875, a number of other schools had been established nearby, and Cleveland had emerged as clearly the dominant population and business center of the region. In 1882, with funding from Amasa Stone, Western Reserve College moved to Cleveland and changed its name to Western Reserve University.

Case Institute of Technology
In 1877, Leonard Case Jr. began laying the groundwork for the Case School of Applied Science by secretly donating valuable pieces of Cleveland real estate to a trust. He asked his confidential advisor, Henry Gilbert Abbey, to administer the trust and to keep it secret until after his death. The Case School of Applied Science was issued a charter by the state of Ohio in 1882-—just four short months after Case's death.

For the first four years of the school's existence, it was located in the Case family's home on Rockwell Street in downtown Cleveland. Classes were held in the family house, while the chemistry and physics laboratories were on the second floor of the barn.

Amasa Stone's gift to relocate Western Reserve College to Cleveland also included a provision for the purchase of land in the University Circle area, adjacent to Western Reserve University, for the Case School of Applied Science. The school moved to University Circle in 1885.

During World War II, Case Institute of Applied Science was one of 131 colleges and universities nationally that took part in the V-12 Navy College Training Program which offered students a path to a Navy commission.

Over time, the Case School of Applied Science grew to encompass a broader vision, adopting the name Case Institute of Technology in 1947 to reflect the institution's growing stature.

Creating a federation
Although the trustees of Case Institute of Technology and Western Reserve University did not formally federate their institutions until 1967, the union had been seen by many as inevitable for decades before that. The institutions already shared buildings and staff when necessary and worked together often. One such example was seen in 1887, when Case physicist Albert Michelson and Reserve chemist Edward Morley collaborated on the famous Michelson–Morley experiment.

There had been some discussion of a merger of the two institutions as early as 1890, but those talks dissolved quickly. In the 1920s, the Survey Commission on Higher Education in Cleveland took a strong stand in favor of federation and the community was behind the idea as well, but in the end all that came of the study was a decision by the two institutions to cooperate in founding Cleveland College, a special unit for part-time and adult students in downtown Cleveland.

By the 1960s, Reserve President John Schoff Millis and Case President T. Keith Glennan shared the idea that federation would create a complete university, one better able to attain national distinction. Financed by the Carnegie Corporation, Cleveland Foundation, Greater Cleveland Associated Foundation, and several local donors, a study commission of national leaders in higher education and public policy was charged with exploring the idea of federation. The Heald Commission, so known for its chair, former Ford Foundation President Henry T. Heald, issued its final report, "Vision of a University." The report predicted that federation would create one of the largest private universities in the nation, with a combined faculty larger than that of Princeton, Chicago, Stanford, or Johns Hopkins.

Case Institute of Technology, a school of science and engineering, and Western Reserve University, known for its strong liberal arts and professional programs, came together in 1967 to form Case Western Reserve University.

Campus
The university is approximately five miles (eight km) east of downtown Cleveland, adjacent to the historic Wade Park District in University Circle, a city neighborhood and commercial center, home to numerous educational, medical, and other cultural institutions. Case Western Reserve has a number of programs taught in conjunction with nearby institutions, including the Cleveland Institute of Music, the Cleveland Institute of Art, the Cleveland Hearing & Speech Center, the Cleveland Museum of Art, the Cleveland Museum of Natural History, the Western Reserve Historical Society, Cleveland Botanical Garden, and the Cleveland Play House.

Kent H. Smith Quadrangle
The Kent H. Smith Quadrangle (known to students as the Main Quad) is located south of Euclid between Adelbert Road and Martin Luther King Jr. Drive. All of the engineering buildings are located on this quad in addition to all of the natural science buildings.

Flora Stone Mather Quadrangle
The Flora Stone Mather Quadrangle (known to students as the Mather Quad) is located north of Euclid Avenue between East Blvd., E. 115th Street, and Juniper Road. Usually it is more strictly defined by the area between East Blvd, Bellflower Road, and Ford Road north of Euclid Avenue. Named for the philanthropist wife of prominent industrialist Samuel Mather and sister-in-law of the famous statesman John Hay, the Flora Stone Mather Quad is home to Weatherhead School of Management, School of Law, Mandel School of Applied Social Sciences, and many departments of the College of Arts and Sciences. The Kelvin Smith Library (Case Western Reserve's main library) and the Thwing Student Center are also located on Mather Quad.

North Residential Village
Situated on the northeast end of campus, the North Residential Village (NRV) is home to all Case Western Reserve's freshman who reside on campus. Constructed in the 1960s, the NRV consists of 12 4 floor buildings, an 11 floor "tower," Leutner (a dining hall), and a building containing the NRV area office and rehearsal space for Case Western Reserve's music department.

Village at 115
Located along E. 115th Street, this is the newest addition to Case Western Reserve's residential housing units, which opened in the fall of 2005. Currently, only upper-class members may reside there. The Village (as students refer to it) consists of seven houses that surround the football field and track. Village housing is apartment style, with apartments that house one to nine people (excluding eight person units). The apartments are fully furnished. The Village is also LEED certified. Houses 1-4 & 6-7 are certified silver while house 5 is certified gold.

In February 2011, a broken pipe joint in the plumbing of House 6 caused over a 500,000 USgal of water to flood the House's apartments, displacing upwards of 40 students. Although University Housing had crews working to repair the damage around the clock, it was over a week before any students could return, some as long as three weeks. This raised concerns about cut corners resulting in poor construction quality of the Village Houses.

South Residential Village
Located between Murray Hill, Cedar, Edgehill, and Overlook roads, the South Residential Village (SRV) is home to most of Case Western Reserve's sophomore class. SRV is divided into two sections: Murray Hill Complex and Carlton Road Complex (known to students as bottom of the hill and top of the hill, respectively, due to the hill separating the two complexes). Carlton Road Complex includes three sophomore-only dormitories and several Greek life houses. Murray Hill Complex includes two sophomore only buildings, one sophomore and upperclassmen building, one upperclassmen-only building, and Fribley, the SRV dining hall.

Transportation
There are two main transportation options for students: For on- and near-campus transportation, Case Western Reserve has a fleet of shuttle buses known as Greenies, though they are currently painted blue. For longer trips, students may use the Greater Cleveland Regional Transit Authority (RTA) bus and rail system. Each undergraduate student receives an unlimited RTA pass, which is paid for via a mandatory $25 fee per semester.

Parking
Case Western Reserve does not manage its parking lots (Standard Parking manages the lots). Students, faculty, and staff still purchase permits from the university. The rates vary between approximately $30 and $120 per month.

The university owns two parking garages, one at the Village at 115 (Lot S-46) and the other near the Veale Athletic Center (Lot S-53). Permits for these two lots are purchased from the university, and cost about $670 and $760, respectively, per year, excluding the summer.

Rankings
In 2011, Washington Monthly ranked Case Western Reserve as the nation's 7th best national university for contributing to the public good. The publication's ranking was based upon a combination of factors including social mobility, research, and service. In 2009, the school had ranked 15th.

In 2010, The Times ranked Case Western Reserve 39th in the U.S. and 65th worldwide.

In September 2009, "BusinessWeek" ranked Case Western Reserve's Weatherhead School of Management as one of the 30 best Design Thinking schools in the world.

In 2008, the National Science Foundation ranked Case Western Reserve #23 in the country for producing the highest percentage of undergraduate students that go on to earn Engineering and Science Ph.Ds.

The Advocate ranked Case Western Reserve University one of the top 100 LGBT-friendly universities.

Case Western Reserve ranks 13th among private institutions (26th among all) in federal expenditures for science and engineering research and development, per the National Science Foundation.

Undergraduate profile


97 percent of enrolled students received financial aid, with an average award of $34,318.

67 percent of admitted students were in the top 10 percent of their high school class, 82 percent were in the top 20 percent, and 92 percent were in the top 30 percent. The SAT scores of the middle 50th percentile of admitted students were 610-700 in critical reading, 650-750 in math, and 600-690 in writing. On the ACT, the middle 50% of scores was 28-32.

The most popular intended majors among the class of 2011 were engineering/computer science with 35 percent, followed by science/mathematics and pre-med/pre-dental medicine/pre-law with 18 percent and 15 percent, respectively. Only 7 percent were undecided.

The Class of 2016 had 72 percent of students from out of the state of Ohio, 7 percent from outside of the United States. 74 percent graduated in the top 10 percent of their high school class. Median SAT scores (25% - 75%) were between 1280 and 1450. The median range for ACT scores was 29 to 33.

Schools and programs
The university in its present form consists of eight schools:
 * College of Arts and Sciences
 * School of Dental Medicine
 * Case School of Engineering
 * School of Law
 * Weatherhead School of Management
 * School of Medicine
 * 'University Program' established in 1843
 * 'College Program' at Cleveland Clinic
 * Frances Payne Bolton School of Nursing
 * Mandel School of Applied Social Sciences
 * School of Graduate Studies

Case also supports over a hundred 'Centers' in various fields.

Naming controversy
In 2003, the university unveiled a new logo and branding campaign that emphasized the "Case" portion of its name. In 2006, interim university president Gregory Eastwood convened a task group to study reactions to the campaign. The panel's report indicated that it had gone so poorly that, "There appear to be serious concerns now about the university's ability to recruit and maintain high-quality faculty, fund-raising and leadership." Also, the logo was derided among the university's community and alumni and throughout northeastern Ohio; critics said it looked like "...a fat man with a surfboard."

In 2007, the university's board of trustees approved a shift back to giving equal weight to "Case" and "Western Reserve." A new logo was chosen and implementation began July 1. In an open letter to the university community, interim president Eastwood admitted that "the university had misplaced its own history and traditions."

Endowment
Case Western Reserve University's endowment ranks at No. 30 among all U.S. colleges and universities. The university comes in at No. 18 for largest endowment growth over the past 20 years, experiencing an increase of 393 percent in that time (See: List of U.S. colleges and universities by endowment).

Student body
, the university had 4,386 undergraduate students and 5,640 graduate and professional students. The undergraduate student body hails from all 50 states and over 100 countries.

Research
Following is a partial list of major contributions made by faculty, staff, and students at Case Western Reserve:
 * Case Western Reserve was the site of the famous Michelson-Morley interferometer experiment, conducted in 1887 by Albert Abraham Michelson of Case Institute of Technology and E. W. Morley of Western Reserve University. This experiment proved the non-existence of the ether, and provided circumstantial evidence to substantiate Einstein's special theory of relativity (Profs. Albert A. Michelson and Edward W. Morley, 1887).
 * Albert Abraham Michelson, who became the first American to win a Nobel Prize in science, taught at Case Institute of Technology. He won the prize in physics in 1907.
 * Edward Morley, in 1895, discovered the atomic weight of oxygen, the basis for calculating the weights of all other elements.
 * Dayton C. Miller, in 1896, performed the first full X-ray of the human body—on himself.
 * George W. Crile, in 1905, performed the first modern blood transfusion, using a coupling device to connect blood vessels.
 * Roger G. Perkins, in 1912, pioneered drinking water chlorination to eradicate typhoid bacilli.
 * Henry J. Gerstenberger, in 1915, developed simulated infant formula.
 * Claude S. Beck, in 1935, pioneered surgical treatment of coronary artery disease.
 * Frederick S. Cross, in the 1950s, developed the first heart-lung machine used during open heart surgery.
 * Claude S. Beck, in 1947, performed the first successful lifesaving defibrillation of the human heart and developed cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR).
 * Robert Kearns, in 1964, invented the intermittent windshield wiper used in most modern automobiles.
 * Frederick Reines, in 1965, first detected neutrinos created by cosmic ray collisions with the Earth's atmosphere and developed innovative particle detectors. Case Western Reserve had selected Prof. Reines as chair of the physics department based on Reines's work that first detected neutrinos emitted from a nuclear reactor&mdash;work for which Reines shared a 1995 Nobel Prize.
 * Eric Baer, in 1967, pioneered the materials science of polymers and created the first comprehensive polymer science and engineering department at a major U.S. university.
 * Joseph F. Fagan, in 1987, developed a test for infants to identify mental retardation within one year of birth.
 * Huntington F. Willard of the School of Medicine and University Hospitals of Cleveland&mdash;collaborating with colleagues at Athersys, Inc., in 1997&mdash;created the first artificial human chromosomes, opening the door to more detailed study of human genetics and potentially offering a new approach to gene therapy.
 * Tshilidzi Marwala, in 2006, began work on Local Loop Unbundling in Africa. He also chaired the Local Loop Unbundling Committee on behalf of the South African Government.
 * Roger Quinn, in 2001, developed robots such as Whegs that mimic cockroaches and other crawling insects (Case Biorobotics Lab)
 * In 2007, a team from Case Western Reserve participated in the DARPA Urban Challenge with a robotic car named DEXTER. Team Case placed as one of 36 semi-finalists. DEXTER was the only car in the race without any seating for humans, and the only one built from scratch as a robot car.

Today, the university operates several facilities off campus for scientific research. One notable example of this is the Warner and Swasey Observatory at Kitt Peak National Observatory in Arizona.

Student life
Unless students are living with a relative within 40 mi of the university, Case Western Reserve requires first- and second-year students to live in on-campus housing. Meal plan participation is also mandatory for first- and second-year students, with some exceptions made for religious and medical reasons. New housing for underclassmen, along with a "Greek village," bringing all the college's fraternities and sororities together with the other undergraduates, is slated to be constructed in the future.

The residence halls are divided into two areas, one featuring suite-style rooms for second-year students and upperclassmen and the other featuring double and single rooms for first-year students. Both have gigabit ethernet network access and the wired network is one of the fastest that exists. A wireless campus network is also available anywhere on campus and ranked as one of the fastest by Intel in 2005. New housing, known as the Village at 115, was opened in fall 2005 for upperclassmen, which features one- to nine-person, "apartment-style" residence halls that come with air conditioning, a full kitchen area, and full-sized beds.

Residence Life at Case Western Reserve has a recent history of being liberal in its policies, including allowing co-ed suites (an option offered to non-freshman students, when requested and agreed upon by all occupants of a suite) and some co-ed floors for freshmen, as well as a three-day guest policy. Pets are allowed except for dogs, cats, ferrets, and a few other small mammals, but requests are granted discussion.

Graduate students are not offered housing.

A campus shuttle runs to Coventry Village, a shopping district in neighboring Cleveland Heights. Cleveland's Little Italy is within walking distance. Legacy Village, Severance Center, and Shaker Square shopping centers are all within driving distance or accessible by RTA.

Music
WRUW-FM (91.1 FM) is the campus radio station of Case Western Reserve University. Its motto "More Music, Fewer Hits" can be seen adorning the rear bumpers of many vehicles in the area. WRUW broadcasts at a power of 15,000 watts and covers most of Northeast Ohio 24 hours a day, 365 days a year.

WRUW is staffed by Case Western Reserve students and community volunteers. The station's format can be classified as non-commercial "variety."

Case Western Reserve is also home to several performing ensembles, including a cappella groups such as the Case Men's Glee Club, Case Women's Glee Club, Case in Point, Speakeasy, Dhamakapella, Bigger Than A Breadbox, and Solstice. Other ensembles include the Case/University Circle Symphony Orchestra, Camerata Chamber Orchestra, Case/CIM Baroque Orchestra, Concert Choir, Early Music Singers, Jazz Ensemble 1 and 2, Marching Spartans, Percussion Ensemble, Symphonic Winds, University Singers, Collegium Musicum, New Music Ensemble, Wind Ensemble, and Chamber Music.

Case Western Reserve has two main rehearsal spaces for performing arts music majors and school ensembles. Hadyn Hall contains practice rooms with Steinway pianos, along with the department offices. Denison Hall serves as a rehearsal, practice, and teaching space for the music students and school ensembles, and is attached to Wade Commons. The Cleveland Youth Wind Symphony also rehearses in Denison Hall. Music majors take lessons at the Cleveland Institute of Music.

For performances, all students, ensembles, and cappella groups use Harkness Chapel. The bands and orchestra also perform at Severance Hall (the on-campus home of the Cleveland Orchestra) and CIM's Kulas Hall.

Computing
Case Western Reserve had the first ABET-accredited program in computer engineering.

In 1968, the university formed a private company, Chi Corporation, to provide computer time to both it and other customers. Initially this was on a Univac 1108 (replacing the preceding UNIVAC 1107), 36 bit, one's complement machine. The company was sold in 1977 to Robert G. Benson in Beachwood, Ohio.

Project Logos, under ARPA contract, was begun within the department on a DEC System-10 (later converted to TENEX (BBN) in conjunction with connection to the ARPANET) to develop a computer-aided computer design system. This system consisted in a distributed, networked, graphics environment, a control and data flow designer and logic (both hardware and software) analyzer. Graphics and animation became another departmental focus with the acquisition of an Evans & Sutherland LDS-1, which was hosted by the DEC System-10, and later with the acquisition of the stand alone LDS-2.

Case Western Reserve was one of the earliest universities connected to the ARPANET, predecessor to the Internet. ARPANET went online in 1969; Case Western Reserve was connected in January, 1971. Case Western Reserve graduate Ken Biba published the Biba Integrity Model in 1977 and served on the ARPA Working Group that developed the Transmission Control Protocol (TCP) used on the Internet.

Case Western Reserve pioneered the early Free-net computer systems, creating the first Free-net, The Cleveland Free-Net, as well as writing the software that drove a majority of those systems, known as FreePort. The Cleveland Free-Net was shut down in late 1999, as it had become obsolete.

It was the first university to have an all-fiber-optic network, in 1989.

At the inaugural meeting in October, 1996, Case Western Reserve was one of the 34 charter university members of Internet2.

The university was ranked No. 1 in Yahoo Internet Life's 1999 Most Wired College list. There was a perception that this award was obtained through partially false or inaccurate information submitted for the survey, and the university did not appear at all on the 2000 Most Wired College list (which included 100 institutions). The numbers reported were much lower than those submitted by Ray Neff in 1999. The university had previously placed No. 13 in the 1997 poll.

In August 2003, Case Western Reserve joined the Internet Streaming Media Alliance, then one of only two university members.

In September 2003, Case Western Reserve opened 1,230 public wireless access points on the Case Western Reserve campus and University Circle.

Case Western Reserve was one of the founding members of OneCleveland, formed in October 2003. OneCleveland is an "ultra broadband" (gigabit speed) fiber optic network. This network is for the use of organizations in education, research, government, healthcare, arts, culture, and the nonprofit sector in Greater Cleveland.

Case Western Reserve is also known for its Virtual Worlds gaming computer lab, which opened in 2005. The lab has a large network of Alienware PCs equipped with game development software such as the Torque Game Engine and Maya 3D modeling software. Additionally, it contains a number of specialized advanced computing rooms including a medical simulation room, a MIDI instrument music room, a 3D projection "immersion room," a virtual reality research room, and console room, which features video game systems such as Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, and Wii. This laboratory can be used by any student in the Electrical Engineering and Computer Science department, and is heavily used for the Game Development (EECS 290) course.

Case Western's Internet Technology Service also runs a High Performance Computing Cluster (HPCC) utilizing 2684 processors over 200 computer nodes interconnected with gigabit fiberoptic ethernet. The HPCC is available for research utilizing a wide array of commercial and custom scientific software packages and computer languages including: Matlab, Mathematica, Ansys CFX Fluent and ICEM, Schrödinger, LAMMPS, Gaussian, NEURON, MCell, Python, Qhull, Sundials, Charmm/qchem, Rosetta, Gromacs, NAMD, C, C++, Fortran.

Housing
First-year students are grouped into one of four residential colleges that are overseen by first-year coordinators. The Mistletoe, Juniper, and Magnolia residential colleges were established when the "First Year Experience" system was introduced, and Cedar was created in the fall of 2005 to accommodate a large influx of new students. In the fall of 2007, Magnolia was integrated into Mistletoe, however, it was later re-separated in the fall of 2012. The areas of focus for each college are – Cedar: visual and performing arts; Mistletoe: service leadership; Juniper: multiculturalism and Magnolia: sustainability.

The residential colleges plan events together and are run by college councils that take student input and use it to plan social and community service-oriented activities.

Greek life
Nearly one-third of the campus undergraduates are in a fraternity or sorority. There are eight sororities and fifteen fraternities currently on campus. Greek organizations are governed by an Interfraternity Council and Panhellenic Council. During the 2010–2011 school year, fraternities and sororities at Case collectively raised over $45,375 for philanthropy. In September 2010, the Delta Chi Fraternity joined the Greek community, achieving chapter status in October 2012. In September 2012, Pi Beta Phi sorority began a colonization effort.

The fraternities are:


 * Beta Theta Pi
 * Delta Chi
 * Delta Tau Delta
 * Delta Upsilon
 * Phi Delta Theta
 * Phi Gamma Delta
 * Phi Kappa Psi
 * Phi Kappa Tau


 * Phi Kappa Theta
 * Sigma Chi
 * Sigma Nu
 * Sigma Phi Epsilon
 * Theta Chi
 * Zeta Beta Tau
 * Zeta Psi

The sororities are:


 * Alpha Chi Omega
 * Alpha Phi
 * Delta Gamma
 * Kappa Alpha Theta


 * Phi Mu
 * Phi Sigma Rho
 * Pi Beta Phi
 * Sigma Psi

From 1937 to 2001 there was a German-American Studentenverbindung situated in Cleveland called Corps Brandenburgia Berlin zu Cleveland. It consisted mainly of students from the German nobility. Together with the Corps Teuto-Rugia, they formed the SC zu Cleveland.

Traditions
The Hudson Relays is an annual tradition at Case Western Reserve University that occurs on the last weekend before finals every spring semester. It is a relay race between teams drawn from each class year. The race is a distance of 26 mi. Originally, the race was run from Hudson, Ohio, the original site of Western Reserve University, to the present location of the school in University Circle. Since the mid-1980s, the race has been run entirely in the University Circle area. University tradition is that if a class wins the relay for each of its four years, the team will be rewarded with a champagne and steak dinner with the president of the university. The most recent class to achieve this was the class of 2011. The winning class for each year is carved on a boulder located behind Adelbert Hall.

Springfest is a day-long concert and student group festival that occurs later in the same day as Hudson Relays. The Springfest Planning Committee brings in several bands and a beer garden, student groups set up booths to entertain the student body, and various inflatable carnival-style attractions are brought in to add to the festive atmosphere. Occasionally, due to adverse weather conditions, the festival must be moved indoors, usually to Thwing Center or Adelbert Gym.

Halloween at the Farm is a tradition established in the fall of 2002. Halloween at the Farm takes place at the Squire Valleevue Farm in Hunting Valley, Ohio. Students, their families, and faculty are invited to enjoy games, a bonfire, an open air concert and hay rides. Organized by the members of the Class Officer Collective, HATF is one of the biggest events of the year. In the fall of 2009 the event was moved to the main campus and renamed "Halloween at Home".

Since 1974, the Film Society of Case Western Reserve University has held a science fiction marathon. The film festival, the oldest of its type, boasts more than 34 hours of non-stop movies, cartoons, trailers, and shorts spanning many decades and sub-genres.

Athletics
Case Western Reserve University has been a member of the University Athletic Association (UAA) since the early 1990s. The conference participates in the National Collegiate Athletic Association's (NCAA) Division III. The university offers 10 men's sports and nine women's sports. Two of the teams attained unprecedented success in the fall of 2006, with the women's cross country team winning the Great Lakes regional championship for the first time, and the men's soccer team earning its first-ever NCAA tournament bid.

The Case Western Reserve Men's Soccer team finished their 2006 season with a 17–2–2 record and a UAA championship. The team reached the Sweet 16 in their first-ever NCAA Division III tournament appearance and concluded the season ranked 12th in the nation.

Case Western Reserve has an excellent cross country program, as evidenced by their finishes at the NCAA national competition over the past three years. The Case Western Reserve's women's cross country team finished the 2006 season with a UAA Championship and a bid to the NCAA Championship. The Lady Spartans finished 10th in the nation. The women's team went on to finish even higher at nationals in 2007, earning a sixth-place finish at the NCAA DIII national championship. Both the men's and women's Cross Country teams qualified for and competed in the NCAA DIII national championships in 2008, with the women's team coming away with two All-Americans and a 16th-place finish. In 2009, they had two All-Americans and finished 15th. In 2010, the lady Spartans finished 19th, with one all-American, senior Justine Jeroski.

The Case Western Reserve football team finished the 2007 season with the school's first UAA Championship in football, first playoff appearance, and first playoff win against Widener University. The team lost to Wabash College in the second round. Case Western Reserve football had another undefeated regular season in 2008 but lost in the first round of the NCAA Division III playoffs to Wabash College. In 2009, the team finished its 3rd consecutive undefeated regular season and won the UAA. It earned a 3rd straight playoff appearance, losing in the first round to Trine University. Beginning with the 2014 season, the football team will be moving to the Presidents' Athletic Conference. All other sports will remain in the University Athletic Association.

Case Western Reserve's primary athletic rival is Carnegie Mellon University.

Alumni Associations
Throughout the years, many higher education institutions merged to form what is now known as Case Western Reserve University. Even though the colleges do not exist individually, two alumni associations are still thriving.

Case Alumni Association
The Case Alumni Association (CAA) is one of the oldest independent alumni organization in the United States, having been organized in 1885. Membership in the Association is conferred upon all graduates of the Case School of Applied Science, Case Institute of Technology, Case School of Engineering, and the mathematics and science departments within the College of Arts and Sciences. Those who have attended any of the above institutions for at least one semester are considered members of the association. The main offices returned to campus in November 2010 at Tomlinson Hall, 2121 Martin Luther King Jr. Drive, Cleveland, Ohio, 44106.

CAA recently expanded its reach by establishing chapters (Case Clubs) in various U.S. cities, including Washington, D.C., Silicon Valley, San Diego, Los Angeles, Phoenix and Boston.

CWRU Alumni Relations
Case Western Reserve University Alumni Relations is the primary alumni association for any alumni who have attend CWRU for at least one semester.

Cultural references

 * The 1997 Air Force One was in part filmed on Case campus. The opening scene depicting the presidential palace of the leader of Kazakhstan was shot at Severance Hall - home of the Cleveland Orchestra adjacent to Case campus. Also seen are several landmarks of Case including the Thwing Center (the student union) and the Allen Memorial Medical Library.


 * In the 1999 film Being John Malkovich, Mary Kay Place's character - Floris - is mentioned to have received "her doctorate in speech impedimentology from Case Western."


 * In the 2001 film The Man Who Wasn't There, it is mentioned that the James Gandolfini character 'Big Dave Brewster' attended Case Western.


 * In the 2003 book Mountains Beyond Mountains, Tracy Kidder talks about Paul Farmer choosing to apply to only two MD/PhD-anthropology programs in the nation - CaseMed and Harvard Medical School.


 * The 2004 Vice-Presidential Debate between then Vice-President Dick Cheney and Senator John Edwards was held on Case Western campus.


 * In the 2006 film The Oh in Ohio, Paul Rudd's character - Jack - becomes romantically involved with a Case student Kristin (played by Mischa Barton). In one scene, Jack drops Kristin off at the "Case Biophysics building," which is actually the Frank Gehry designed Peter B. Lewis Building at Case's Weatherhead School of Management. In this scene, a number of actual Case Western Reserve students were cast as extras, and had minor speaking roles.


 * In "Drew's Cousin," a 1998 installment of The Drew Carey Show's third season, the episode's namesake mentions to Drew that she "got into Case Western."


 * In 2008, the movie Flash of Genius detailed the story of Robert Kearns, who graduated from Case Institute of Technology. The movie is about how he designed the first intermittent windshield wipers, and his battle against the automobile industry to get recognition for his invention.


 * In 2010, the show The Deep End on ABC features a main character, Addy Fisher, who graduated from Case Western Reserve Law School.