This page was created by Christine Liebson. The last update was by Helen Conger.
1966
January 5, 1966
Presidents Millis and Glennan announced Henry T. Heald would chair the Case Institute of Technology-Western Reserve University Study Commission (known as the Heald Commission) to investigate possibilities for closer cooperation between WRU and Case. Heald was the former head of the Ford Foundation and had served as president of Illinois Institute of Technology and New York University. The Commission’s work would be supported by grants of $200,000 from the Carnegie Corporation of New York and $100,000 each from the Cleveland Foundation and the Associated Foundation of Greater Cleveland.
June 7, 1966
The Heald Commission held its first meetings. Members of the Commission, in addition to Heald, were Charles W. Cole, former president of Amherst College and former U.S. Ambassador to Chile; Harold L. Hazen, Dean of the Graduate School of MIT; Milton Katz, Professor of Law at Harvard; David A. Shepard, former vice president of the Standard Oil Company of New Jersey.
August 26, 1966
The Heald Commission issued its first interim report, summarizing existing cooperative activities and recommending additional cooperation. In September, WRU and Case Trustees approved coordinated planning by Case and WRU faculty and officers “to engender mutual reinforcement.”
November 3 and December 1, 1966
WRU and Case Trustees approved Joint Case-WRU Trustee Committee proposal to create single departments to serve both institutions in biology, chemistry, physics, and mathematics.
December 1, 1966
Upon recommendation of the Joint Case-WRU Trustee Committee, the WRU and Case Trustees discussed the second interim report of the Heald Commission and approved planning the structure of a federated institution.
December 23, 1966
Joint Case-WRU Trustee Committee recommended establishment of a federated university to be called Case Western Reserve University (CWRU) “to bring into being a nationally-recognized community of academic excellence.” In January the WRU and Case Trustees approved that recommendation. A single dissenting vote was cast by Case Trustee James Hodge.
George Olah was appointed chairman of the newly combined Department of Chemistry. In January, Melvin Henriksen was appointed chairman of the consolidated Department of Mathematics. In May, Harvey P. Willard was appointed chairman of the combined Department of Physics.
