As Case Western Reserve University celebrates its bicentennial, the Jack, Joseph and Morton Mandel Foundation and the Jack, Joseph and Morton Mandel Supporting Foundation have made a historic commitment toward the university’s future: a $125 million commitment—the foundations’ largest in their history and believed to be the biggest gift ever to higher education in the state of Ohio.
The commitment will fund four areas of focus at Case Western Reserve:
- Establishing the Jack, Joseph and Morton Mandel Humanities Building—a campus anchor for human-centered digital scholarship, interdisciplinary creativity and community partnerships. The envisioned 50,000-square-foot building will combine humanities studies from across several buildings through collaborative workspaces, state-of-the-art classrooms and specialized research zones to support immersive and interdisciplinary learning and inquiry. Its location situates the new building alongside the Jack, Joseph and Morton Mandel School of Applied Social Sciences and Mandel Community Studies Center on Bellflower Road at Case Western Reserve University.
- More than doubling the existing scholarship endowment capacity at the Jack, Joseph and Morton Mandel School of Applied Social Sciences through the continuation of the Mandel Dean’s Scholarships—ensuring future social workers from a range of socioeconomic backgrounds can drive change in the world.
- Creating the Morton L. Mandel Presidential Chair, with President Kaler as the inaugural holder. Designed to empower the president with flexible, discretionary resources, the chair will strengthen the university’s ability to respond to emerging opportunities, accelerate innovation, and invest in initiatives that amplify academic distinction and research excellence, while also honoring the legacy of leadership of Morton L. Mandel (CWR ’13), who earned his degree 74 years after he began.
- Expanding the Experimental Humanities Program in the College of Arts and Sciences. The investment will continue to provide scholarships, stipends, and mentorship opportunities for Mandel Fellows in the Experimental Humanities, as well as address the growing need for academic programs that equip students to tackle societal challenges through integrative, ethical and technologically informed approaches.