Fond farewell

University President Barbara R. Snyder is leaving CWRU to lead the Association of American Universities, the organization that represents North America’s leading research universities, ending a 13-year tenure that saw impressive improvements in academic standards, enrollment and campus facilities. 

While many will miss her, Case scientists and engineers share a special fondness for the university president. 

Snyder, who took the helm in 2007, helped mend a rift between the university and the Case Alumni Association. She welcomed the CAA and its traditions back to campus and to Tomlinson Hall in 2011, ending a five-year exile to off-campus offices. 

She was a familiar face at Case homecoming celebrations, including the Innovation ShowCASE, and braved chilly temperatures to ride in the open-top 1957 roadster of Case Engineer Larry Sears ’69 in the Homecoming Parade. In 2013, the CAA presented her with the Silver Bowl, its highest honor. 

Snyder announced in February that she plans to join AAU before the fall 2020 semester and the university board of trustees began a national search for her successor. 

“The opportunity to serve as Case Western Reserve’s president has been the greatest professional privilege of my life,” Snyder said in a statement. 

The AAU includes such public flagship institutions as UCLA, University of Michigan and the University of Virginia, as well as private schools like Harvard, Yale, MIT, Stanford and CWRU.