Cleveland State University has identified and submitted to the Ohio Board of Regents three Centers of Excellence, developed in response to the University System of Ohio Strategic Plan for Higher Education which required all institutions to identify their distinctive strengths within the University System.

“Our Centers were identified after broad-based faculty, academic, and administrative participation, discussion, and forums. The University’s Board of Trustees and its Academic Affairs Committee have carefully reviewed and discussed these Centers of Excellence and endorse them as CSU’s signature academic strengths,” said CSU Provost Mary Jane Saunders. “Our Centers of Excellence respond directly to the state’s economic priorities and societal needs, will advance the state’s economic prosperity and quality of life, and provide strong mission differentiation for CSU within the University System of Ohio.”

Under the Signature Themes of Health and Sustainable Communities, the three Cleveland State University Centers of Excellence are:

The Center for Gene Regulation in Health and Disease

The Center for Gene Regulation in Health and Disease focuses on exploring the genetic and molecular causes, prevention, and treatment of disease. The research being conducted by the Center’s academically outstanding and nationally funded staff has significant potential to improve the understanding of the mechanisms and specific molecules that control reproductive health and the aging process, as well as implications for the diagnosis and treatment of many of the most common diseases, including cardiovascular disease, neurological disease, infectious disease, and cancer.

The Center for 21st Century Health Professions

The Center for 21st Century Health Professions is a formal structuring of work that has been going on at CSU for decades – preparing high-quality health care and bioscience industry professionals for Northeast Ohio to ensure excellent care for its citizens. CSU is unique in the number of its programs that are unavailable elsewhere in the region, and is marked by its focus on primary medical care and reducing health disparities, and on promoting health care efficiencies. The Center has an established pipeline of students from high school to practice, and “second career” nursing students.

The Next Generation Economy Center

The Next Generation Economy Center combines the engaged scholarship and reflective practice of economic development public policy, and business development and entrepreneurship. It exists to foster a competitive economic climate in the State and to improve entrepreneurship and business development by providing national thought leadership on the connections between business strategy and management, and the economics of regional development.

CSU’s established expertise in economic development policy formation and evaluation has made it a model of interdisciplinary teamwork within and outside of the University. The Center’s aim is to improve Ohio’s economic climate and change the entrepreneurial climate of Northeast Ohio, and educate the people who will generate the new economy.

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