Schwartz: His legacy at Cleveland State University

CLEVELAND -- There may be a new face coming in as the sixth President of Cleveland State University but the face of CSU has been forever changed by its outgoing President, Dr. Michael Schwartz.

Schwartz will leave a legacy of a newly renovated College of Law, a new main classroom building, new dormitories, new administration buildings, and a recreation center.

Other projects that he started will be completed later, like the student center and a college of education and human services.

Officially, Schwartz, who has been at CSU since November 2001, steps down today (Tuesday) and Ronald M. Berkman takes the helm. "This is a great day," he told WKYC's Dick Russ.

Schwartz, 71, will take a one-year sabbatical, then return to teach at CSU.

The CSU Board of Trustees said that, during Shwartz's eight years as president, the campus underwent tremendous change, including a $300 million campus improvement master plan, which has transformed the downtown institution into a university campus in the heart of downtown Cleveland.

"We've turned the face of the campus outward and made it more convenient and more attractive and much more welcoming to the students and to everybody else," Schwartz explained. "It's the people's University and they have to feel good about it."

On June 22, the trustees designated the CSU Library as the Michael Schwartz Library.

The resolution named the library after Dr. Schwartz "in recognition of and gratitude to the man who so capably led this University and made an indelible impression on the lives of so many people who seek truth and knowledge through education."

There was also a public tribute for Schwartz June 23 at the Allen Theater, where more than 1,000 honored him and his wife, Dr. Joanne Rand Schwartz.

There he was presented with a portrait of himself that will hang in the newly named library.

CSU trustees unanimously selected Schwartz as President after he served six months as Interim President.

Part of Schwartz's changes also included the master plan for development of the downtown campus and establishment of extended campuses in Westlake and Solon; the University's new Honors Program; adoption of heightened admissions criteria for incoming students; enhanced student service and technology initiatives; and significantly increased scholarship support for deserving students.

"Last fall our average GPA from high school was 3.09, and it had been 2 something for years and years and years. We're now getting better students," Schwartz said, "they're easier to teach. We expect our dropout rate to go down and our graduation rate to go up."

Schwartz came to CSU from Kent State University, where he was President Emeritus and Professor Emeritus.

A native of Chicago, Schwartz received three degrees from the University of Illinois: the B.S. in psychology (1958), the M.A. in labor and industrial relations (1959) and the Ph.D. in sociology (1962).

He began his academic career at Wayne State University, later moved to Indiana University at Bloomington, and then moved to Florida Atlantic University as Chair of the Department of Sociology.

He then served as Dean of the College of Social Science at Florida Atlantic before moving to Kent State in 1976 as Vice President for Graduate Studies and Research.

Dr. Schwartz served as acting KSU president briefly in 1977, and then as Vice President for Academic and Student Affairs.

He was given the title "Provost" in 1980, became President of Kent State University in 1982, and served in that capacity until 1991.

He stepped down from the KSU presidency to return to the classroom, teaching graduate courses in higher education administration and statistical methods.

Schwartz says his office has been busy today with both well-wishers and those seeking special favors. "Very early this morning I was being asked to issue pardons of one kind of another," the outgoing CSU President laughed. "I thought that was kind of funny."

"Some of those pardons I'll leave to President Berkman and see how he feels about it."