About the School
125 Years of Engineering Excellence
A Timeline
1880
An endowment from Leonard Case Jr. establishes the Case School of Applied Science near Cleveland's Public Square. Learn more about Case's legacy of excellence in education.
1881
First group of 16 students and five faculty members begin classes. Applicants must pass examinations in English, algebra and mathematics and be at least 16 years old. Tuition is $50 a year.
1882
Civil engineering first appears in the academic catalog.
1884
The first fraternity, Zeta Psi, is established on campus.
1885
The first graduating class – comprised of five students – is honored at a commencement ceremony in the Case Homestead.
Case moves to University Circle.
1887
Electrical engineering, mechanical engineering and mining engineering (which becomes metallurgy and material science) first appear in the academic catalog.
The first Michelson–Morley experiments are conducted.
1893
The Reid Prize in Physics is the first scholarship prize awarded.
1895
Case alumnus Herbert Henry Dow establishes the Dow Chemical Company. Learn more about Dow and the Case commitment to entrepreneurship.
1896
Edward J. Hudson and William O. Quayle receive Case's first Master of Science degrees.
1904
The Department of Engineering Chemistry is established. It will become the Department of Chemical Engineering in 1925.
1905
Henry B. Dates is appointed head of the newly formed Department of Electrical Engineering.
1907
Case faculty member Albert Michelson becomes the first American to win a Nobel Prize in the sciences. Today, a total of 15 Nobel Prize winners claim affiliations with the university. Learn more about Michelson's legacy of excellence in research and scholarship, and then read about the university's other Nobel laureates.
1910
Case has more than 500 students enrolled and tuition is $100 a year.
1916
Case's William R. Collings makes the first magnesium metal made in the U.S.
1922
Dr. Charles S. Howe teaches Case's first business course.
1926
Andres S. Meyers becomes the first woman to complete graduate work in metallurgy at Case.
1928
Edith Paula Chartkoff becomes the first female student to graduate from Case, with a Master of Science degree in metallurgy.
1930
Case alumnus Al Gross invents the walkie talkie
1932
The comprehensive graduate school program is established. A graduate assistantship program is created the following year.
1938
Irene Levis, of the Department of Chemical Engineering, is the first woman appointed to the Case faculty.
Fred E. Sheibly earns Case's first Ph.D. degree.
1940
Case has 1,789 students enrolled and tuition is $350 a year.
1942
There are 262 Case alumni in military service, including four faculty members. Roughly 3,900 students enroll in the 101 War Training course offered on campus.
Three women students begin as regular freshmen and five women begin graduate programs. In all, 33 women are enrolled in evening classes.
1945
Laura Diehl becomes the first woman to receive an undergraduate degree from Case, a B.S. in physics.
1947
The Case School of Applied Science after 67 years changes name to reflect changing times and terminology to Case Institute of Technology.
1950
Ethel Love is the first woman to receive a degree in electrical engineering from Case.
1951
Case has 2,169 students enrolled and tuition is $650 a year.
Ernest B. Yeager develops Case's first fuel cell. Learn more about fuel cells at Case.
1954
The first combined undergraduate and graduate catalog is issued.
1955
Polykarp Kusch, Class of 1931, becomes the first Case alumnus to receive the Nobel Prize in Physics.
1958
Case President T. Keith Glennan becomes the first administrator of NASA.
For the first time, Case requires applicants to complete the College Entrance Examination Board tests.
1959
Case establishes a Systems Research Center primarily for faculty research and graduate–level study.
President Kent Smith opens both graduate and undergraduate schools to female students.
1960
Donald C. Knuth earns both a bachelors and masters degrees simultaneously.
Mei Mei Wang becomes the first woman to earn a Ph.D. from Case.
1967
Case Institute of Technology and Western Reserve University federate to establish Case Western Reserve University.
1968
Department of Biomedical Engineering, a joint department of the School of Medicine and the Engineering Division, is established. A year later, the Polymer Science and Engineering Program becomes the Macromolecular Science Division. Learn more about the groundbreaking departments.
1970
Case Western Reserve University has 9,209 students enrolled and tuition is $2,200 a year.
1972
The Macromolecular Science Division becomes the Department of Macromolecular Science, the first of its kind in the nation.
1973
Helen Stankard becomes Case's first female dean.
Systems engineering becomes a department.
1976
Two departments merge to become the Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering.
1977
Department of Systems Engineering, Computer Engineering and Information Science merge to become Systems Engineering and Computer Engineering and Science. Read about the history of mentoring in the department now know as Electrical Engineering and Computer Science.
1980
Case Western Reserve University has 8,022 students enrolled and tuition is $4,800 a year.
1987
Metallurgy and Material Science becomes the Department of Materials Science and Engineering.
1992
The Case School of Engineering is established. Since its founding, the school has remained among the nation's elite engineering schools, excelling in research, education and service.
1996
Donald Erwin Knuth '60, author of The Art of Computer Programming, is awarded the Kyoto Prize.
2000
Case Western Reserve University has 9,515 students enrolled and tuition is $20,100 a year.
2001
Robert F. Savinell is named dean of the Case School of Engineering. An international pioneer in fuel cell research, Savinell had served previously as director of the Yeager Center for Electrochemical Sciences and the school's associate dean for research and technology transfer.
2005
Clare Rimnac, who is also director of Case's Musculoskeletal Mechanics and Materials Laboratories, becomes the first woman to be appointed a full professor in the Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering.
Case opens the state-of-the-art Village at 115th residential complex. Learn more about the Village and the history of student housing at Case.
October 14–16, 2005
Case Western Reserve University hosts a campus wide celebration of 125 Years of Engineering at Case. All friends and alumni of the Case School of Applied Science, Case Institute of Technology and Case School of Engineering are invited and encouraged to attend.
2006
The Center for Layered Polymeric Systems (CliPS) is awarded the School???s first NSF funded Science and Technology Center with total federal support of up to $40 million in its 10-year lifetime.
2007
Dr. Norman C. Tien is named dean of the Case School of Engineering. A distinguished researcher and entrepreneur in micro and nanotechnology, Tien was the former chair of the Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science and is the Ohio Eminent Scholar in Condensed Matter Physics.
Z. Meral Ozsoyoglu succeeds Norman Tien as chair of the Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, the first woman to lead a department.