An illustrated postcard of Lehigh University's campus in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania in 1907Alumni Memorial Building in November 2019
Located in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania in the historically industrial Lehigh Valley region of eastern Pennsylvania, which is located between two of the nation's largest cities, 70-mile (110 km) from Philadelphia, the nation's sixth-largest city, and 85-mile (137 km) from New York City, the nation's largest city.[7]
Lehigh encompasses 2,350 acres (9.5 km2), including 180 acres (0.73 km2) of recreational and playing fields and 150 buildings comprising four million square feet of floor space. It is organized into three contiguous campuses on and around South Mountain, including:
The Asa Packer Campus, built into the northern slope of the mountain, the university's original and primary campus;
The Mountaintop Campus, atop South Mountain, including intramural sports fields and Iacocca Hall; and
The Murray H. Goodman Campus, immediately south, where a 16,000-seat stadium and other sports facilities are located.
In May 2012, Lehigh was the beneficiary a gift of 755 acres of property in nearby Upper Saucon Township, Pennsylvania from the Donald B. and Dorothy L. Stabler Foundation. The gift from the estate of the long-time benefactor allowed the university to expand to its current size of 2,350 acres across all its campuses, and to consider new long-term potential uses for university's new properties.[8]
Admissions
For the Class of 2027, Lehigh received 18,414 applications and accepted 5,246 for an acceptance rate of 28%.[9][10][better source needed]
U.S. News & World Report's Best Colleges Ranking ranked Lehigh tied for 47th[19] among "National Universities", tied for 26th for "Best Undergraduate Teaching", and 24th for "Best Value Schools" in its 2024 edition of "Best Colleges".[20] In 2015, The Economist ranked Lehigh seventh among national universities in its ranking of non-vocational U.S. colleges ranked by alumni earnings above expectation.[21] In its 2024 ranking of best U.S. colleges, The Wall Street Journal ranked Lehigh the 14th-best overall.[22]
Sayre Observatory, an 1896 donation to the universityIacocca Hall, named in honor of Lehigh University alumnus Lee IacoccaThe university's Packard Laboratory in November 2015Williams Hall in November 2019
As of 2019[update], Lehigh has 540 full-time faculty members, with 95% holding a doctorate degree or the highest degree in their field.[2] Faculty members are required to have a minimum of four office hours per week.
Lehigh's average class size is 28 students; the student-to-faculty ratio is 9:1.[2]
The university offers undergraduate enrollment to all its colleges except its College of Education. Students are permitted to take courses or major and minor in subjects outside of their respective college.[24] The university operates on a semester system.[25]
P.C. Rossin College of Engineering and Applied Science
In 2012, BusinessWeek ranked Lehigh's College of Business 31st in the nation among undergraduate business programs.[31] In 2012, BusinessWeek ranked Lehigh the seventh-best overall undergraduate finance program in the nation, and ranked its undergraduate accounting program the 21st-best in the nation.[31]
Based in Maginnes Hall,[33] Lehigh offers a variety of humanities courses and visual arts programs and many music programs, including a marching band, the Wind Ensemble, and the Philharmonic orchestra. It has a dedicated Humanities Center, which is the site for many literature and other arts-based programs, including the Drown Writers Series.[34][vague]
Lehigh also has a program called ArtsLehigh,[35] oriented towards enhancing interest in the arts on campus.
College of Education
More than 7,000 students have received master's, education specialist, Pennsylvania Department of Education teaching certificates and certifications, doctoral degrees, and professional certificates from Lehigh's College of Education as of 2018[update].[36]
College of Health
Lehigh's College of Health offers classes in biostatistics, epidemiology, population health data science, and others related to population health.[37] The college opened on August 21, 2020, and was the first in the world to offer undergraduate, graduate, and executive degrees in population health. It is based at the Health, Science, and Technology (HST) building which opened in January 2022.[38]
Administration
Board of trustees
As a private institution, Lehigh University is governed by its board of trustees, established 1866. The board can have no less than 18, nor more than 35 members at any given time. The board selects the university president, as well as their vice presidents who operate as "executive agents" of the board.[39]
Class of 1871, first alumnus to hold position. Fritz Lab, Drown Hall, Coxe Lab, Taylor Hall, Taylor Gym, Taylor Stadium, and Lamberton Hall constructed. Split school into colleges.[40]
-
Natt M. Emery
1920-1922
Drinker resigned in 1920. His vice president, Natt M. Emery, served as acting president until 1922.[40]
6.
Charles Russ Richards
1922-1935
Graduate school opened to women, Alumni Memorial constructed.[40]
7.
Clement C. Williams
1935-1944
University of Iowa's dean of engineering, Richards and Drinker dorms built. Retired in 1944.[40]
Bell Labs alumnus. Maginnes Hall, Whitaker Lab, Mart Science and Engineering Library, Sinclair Lab, the Seeley G. Mudd Building, Neville Hall, Rathbone Dining Hall, Centennial II, Brodhead, Trembley Park, Saucon Village dorms, and the Philip Rauch Field House, and the Stabler center constructed.[40]
Purchased Mountaintop Campus from Bethlehem Steel. Demolished Taylor Stadium to make room for Rauch and Zoellner Halls. Resigned to become an advisor to George H.W. Bush.[40]
-
William C. Hittinger
1997-1998
Class of 1944. A 22-year veteran of the board of trustees. Selected as interim President after Likins resigned.[40]
First female president. Opened Lehigh's Stabler Campus. in 2010 named to the post of science envoy by Hillary Clinton. Resigned to be named President of the Imperial College London.[40]
-
Kevin L. Clayton
2014-2015
Alumnus from large family of alumni, 22-year veteran of the board of trustees.[40]
14.
John D. Simon
2015-2021
Former provost of the University of Virginia. Established the College of Health. SouthSide Commons, Singleton, Hitch, and Maida dorms constructed.[40]
In 1988, a student senate was created at the university to act as a governing body for undergraduate students, though it is empowered only to offer recommendations to the university's board. Still, the student senate still has an impact as it determines which clubs receive funding and which are authorized to be listed as official university clubs.[41][42][43]
A separate student senate exists for graduate students, known as GSS, which focuses on advocacy for grant procurement and graduate student travel costs to visit sites.[44][45]
As a member of the Patriot League, Lehigh competes in 25 different NCAA Division I sports. Lehigh's 2006 student-athlete graduation rate of 97% ranked 12th among all 326 NCAA Division I institutions.[46] In 2002, it won the inaugural USA Today/NCAA Foundation Award for having the nation's top graduation rate of all Division I institutions.[46]
Lehigh's fifth trip to the NCAA tournament in 2012 proved to be their most notable to date, thanks to its first-round game as a #15 seed on March 16, 2012, against the #2 seed Duke Blue Devils. Despite being a heavy underdog, thanks to CJ McCollum's 30-point heroics, the Mountain Hawks pulled off the stunning upset, defeating the Blue Devils 75-70 and making it only the sixth time that a 15th seed had defeated a second seed.[47]
Lehigh University and nearby Lafayette College are rivals in sports. Since 1884, the two football teams have met over 150 times, making the game between the two programs, known as The Rivalry, the most played in the history of college football.[48]
The rivalry between Lehigh and Lafayette is also the longest uninterrupted rivalry in college football; the teams have played annually since 1897. For the 150th meeting, the teams played before a sold-out Yankee Stadium in New York City.[49]
Wrestling
The most storied athletic program at Lehigh is its wrestling team, which began in 1910. Over the past several decades, the Lehigh wrestling team has produced 158 All-Americans and had numerous squads finish with Top 20 NCAA national rankings, including finishing second in the nation in 1939.[50] In 2008, the athletic department hired Pat Santoro, a two-time national champion and two-time winner of the EIWA Coach of the Year (2009, 2012) as Lehigh's head wrestling coach.[51]
Home dual meets and tournaments take place at Leeman-Turner Arena at Grace Hall on the university's main campus.[52] In 2013, Grace Hall was converted into the Caruso Wrestling Complex, including a visiting area and Lehigh's College Wrestling Wall of Fame.
In March 2017, Lehigh wrestler and Bethlehem native Darian Cruz won the NCAA Division I national wrestling tournament,[53] becoming Lehigh's first national champion since Zach Rey, Lehigh's current assistant wrestling coach, won the title in the heavyweight division six years earlier, in 2011.
Fraternities and sororities
A large majority of Lehigh's social fraternities and sororities have their own university-owned houses; most of the fraternities and sororities are located along Upper and Lower Sayre Park Roads in a region known as "The Hill".
Lehigh has one of the highest levels of student participation in fraternities and sororities; approximately 34% of undergraduates are members of a fraternity or sorority. During new member education, Greek membership rises to almost 45%. There are 13 fraternities,[54] all of which are housed on campus, and eight sororities, all of which are housed on campus.[55]
Student traditions, newspaper
Lehigh students have several lasting traditions. Lehigh's school colors, brown and white, date back to 1874, and the school newspaper, The Brown and White, has been continuously published since 1894.
Lehigh's football game with Lafayette in the longest-running rivalry in the history of college football. The week leading up to the game features traditional festivities, including decorating fraternity houses, parties, rallies and the Marching 97 performing unexpectedly during classes the Friday before the game.[56]
On April 5, 1986, Jeanne Clery, a 19-year-old Lehigh freshman, was raped and murdered in her Lehigh dorm room; the perpetrator was apprehended, tried, and sentenced to death. In 1990, the backlash against unreported crimes on numerous campuses across the country led the United States Congress to pass the Jeanne Clery Disclosure of Campus Security Policy and Campus Crime Statistics Act, known as the Clery Act, which requires that colleges reveal information regarding crime on their campuses.[57][58]
Ferdinand P. Beer, the first chair of the Department of Mechanical engineering, professor of mechanical engineering from 1947 to 1984, wrote several textbooks influential to engineering education
^"Award recipients"(PDF). American Association of Engineering Societies. Archived(PDF) from the original on October 9, 2022. Retrieved February 13, 2021.
^"About Lehigh: Marching 97 Campus Tour". Lehigh University. May 26, 2015. Archived from the original on August 19, 2019. Retrieved August 19, 2019. The march is called "Eco-flame" because in the '70s Professor Rich Aaronson asked the band to play for his ECO 001 class.
