Lehigh announces major investment to shape university's future
$250 million will be focused in the areas of financial aid, teaching, global learning, research and student life
BETHLEHEM, Pa., Oct. 5, 2015 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- On Friday, October 2nd Lehigh University announced an investment of $250 million to shape the institution's future that will be focused in the areas of financial aid, teaching, global learning, research and student life. The announcement was made by John D. Simon on the occasion of his installation as Lehigh's 14th president.
Referring to this moment as a "pivot point" — one of many in the university's 150-year history, he said that this investment will support a comprehensive plan that will strengthen Lehigh, allow the university to leverage core strengths and build a university that will serve the needs of students and society of the future.
The funds will be used to:
- Assure that Lehigh's aid packages attract the best students to the university, regardless of their financial situation;
- Re-imagine the University Center, and address the university's aging physical plant, especially its laboratory and technical infrastructure;
- Deepen the university's commitment to the hallmarks of a Lehigh education, one that stresses innovation, integration, and entrepreneurship at all levels; and
- Globalize Lehigh's campus, to assure the university's graduates are educated about the world, acquiring the knowledge, skills and experiences to prepare them to lead in tackling the complex global issues of their generation.
"We need to be bold, take risks, push and define frontiers of knowledge, create and embrace new forms of pedagogy for engaging our students in learning and research," said Simon. "We must modernize our infrastructure and research facilities so they do not hold back the creativity and innovation of our faculty and students. We need to reinvigorate our fields of study by integrating experiential and technology-enabled methods into the student experience."
He added: "The university is making this institutional commitment in tandem with private commitments that will be sought through an upcoming capital campaign to assure that we begin our next 150 years with the strength to recruit and retain the people we need to take Lehigh ever higher."
Simon told the assembled crowd at his installation that he is "thoroughly convinced of the power of higher education to shape how the future world will look. While we face uncertainties in our world today, Lehigh's purposeful approach to education will create leaders with the capacity to take on the challenges and seize the opportunities of our time."
SOURCE Lehigh University
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