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Lehigh University is a private, coeducational university located in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania. Established in 1865 by Asa Packer as a four-year technical school, Lehigh maintains a national reputation as a leading Engineering institution. Since its creation, Lehigh has come to be recognized as a leader in other disciplines, as well: Business, the Arts and Sciences, and Education. The university is comprised of 4,600 undergraduates, 2,000 graduate students, and almost 600 professors.
The university is comprised of four colleges: The P.C. Rossin College of Engineering and Applied Science, the College of Arts and Sciences, The College of Business and Economics, and the College of Education. The College of Arts and Sciences is the largest college, and is home to roughly 42% percent of the university's students. This is followed by the College of Engineering at 28% and the College of Business and Economics with 22%.
The colleges offer a variety of degrees, including Bachelor of Arts, Bachelor of Science, Master of Science, Master of Business Administration, and Doctor of Philosophy.
History
When Asa Packer founded Lehigh University, one of his objectives was to provide a well-rounded education for young students that combined a liberal and scientific education with the necessary technical skills to increase the prosperity of the region. According to William Bacon Stevens, the first president of the board of trustees, Asa Packer's founding gift of $500,000 was the largest single endowment for a literary institution at that time.
On May 9th, 2006, the Board of Trustees introduced Dr. Alice P. Gast as Lehigh's 13th president, who will succeed Dr. Gregory Farrington in August 2006. Dr. Gast previously served as vice president for research and associate provost at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
Resources
Facilities
Lehigh's campus is home to many state-of-the-art facilites, both in high-technology and the arts. NASA has contracted the use of Lehigh's nanotechnology and electron microscopy facilities for research for the James Webb Space Telescope and for future Mars rovers and spacecraft.Zoellner Arts Center
Lehigh also has an impressive performing arts center (Zoellner Arts Center) where renowned artists from all over the world perform regularly. The annual gala is typically held in early autumn and attracts a large audience from the local region.Renovations
Lehigh's campus is currently undergoing major renovations, including a new parking garage and the completion of several walkways.High Performance Computing
Lehigh posesses a number of supercomputers and other high performance computing machinery.Vega
Vega * is an SGI Altix 350 Symmetric Multiprocessor supercomputer with 32 Itanium 64-bit processors, 128 GB of memory and 1 TB of disk. Vega is open for use by any affiliate of the university.Fire
Fire is a 96 processor Beowulf cluster partly allocated to the Department of Industrial Engineering.Blaze
Blaze is a 120 processor Beowulf cluster constructed from 64bit AMD processors that is openly available for a nominal fee.Engineering Highlights
Tau Beta Pi
The first chapter of Tau Beta Pi (ΤΒΠ), the well reputed national engineering society, was formed at Lehigh University in 1885 to honor the accomplishments of those in the field of Engineering. The seal of Tau Beta Pi features brown and white, the colors of Lehigh. Lehigh's chapter is known as the Pennsylvania Alpha.Columbia Space Shuttle Forensics
Following the Columbia Space Shuttle disaster, NASA asked Lehigh, solely, to analyze debris. Students of the Materials Science and Engineering department then reported findings of the forensic analysis during a two-day joint Lehigh-NASA symposium.Golden Gate Bridge
Originally designed by Joseph Strauss, the Golden Gate bridge construction project was carried out by the McClintic-Marshall Construction Co., founded by McClintic and Charles D. Marshall, both of the class of 1888. The project was completed in 1937 in the San Francisco Bay. Today the bridge is recognized as one of the Seven Wonders of the Modern World *.Panama Canal
The McClintic-Marshall Construction Co. manufactured locks for the Panama Canal. The canal is recognized as one of the Seven Wonders of the Modern World *.RSA Factorization
Lehigh University is home to Dr. Bruce Dodson, whos significant contributions to Cryptography led to the factorization of RSA-140 and RSA-155 on an SGI Origin based supercomputer in 1999. The factorization of RSA-155, a 512-bit key, led to the recommendation that commercial encryption be based on stronger 1024-bit keys.Athletics
Called the Engineers until 1995, Lehigh's teams are now officially known as the Mountain Hawks (although the teams are still often referred to as the Engineers). They mostly compete for NCAA's Division I in the Patriot League.
Football
The varsity football team is a Division I-AA team that competes in Goodman Stadium. Football games are well attended at Lehigh. Tailgates are a big part of the games, attracting most students who attend the game. However, for the past two years, the Mountain Hawks have fallen short to rival Lafayette College.The Philadelphia Eagles, a National Football League professional football team, conduct their highly-attended pre-season training camp each summer on Lehigh's football and practice fields*.
Wrestling
The wrestling team competes in the EIWA. Lehigh has a strong tradition in wrestling, and often wins the league and places in the top 10 at the NCAA championships. The current head coach is Greg Strobel.Lehigh-Lafayette Rivalry
Lehigh University's athletic program is notable for its football rivalry with nearby Lafayette College. The two football teams have met 144 times since 1884, making this matchup the most played rivalry in college football.Rankings
Due to its relative strengths and general size, many see Lehigh as comparable to other research institutions such as Tufts University, Carnegie Mellon and the University of Rochester.
US News & World Report
The 2006 issue of US News & World Report's Best Colleges ranked Lehigh as "Most Selective," and #32 in the National Universities Doctoral category. U.S. News also ranks the undergraduate business program #87 in the country*.BusinessWeek
Lehigh is also well known for its business programs, with the undergraduate College of Business & Economics ranked 18th in the nation, in 2006, by BusinessWeek. The business school also ranked 8th in median starting salary for graduates.Other
It ranks 7th in the nation for overall alumni giving. Lehigh's endowment was $844,672,000 as of 2005, ranking it 66th *.Faculty
Faculty: 597 total instructional faculty; 432 full-time faculty Undergraduate student-to-faculty ratio: 100:25.8 Percentage of faculty with Ph.D.: 99%
Notable alumni
- William Amelio, CEO, Lenovo Group Limited
- Scott Belair, co-founder, Urban Outfitters.
- Richard Harding Davis, journalist and author.
- Charlie Dent, United States Congressman.
- Jack Dreyfus, founder of the Dreyfus Corporation.
- Eugene Grace, former president of Bethlehem Steel.
- Terry Hart, NASA astronaut and U.S. Air Force pilot.
- Al Holbert, Member of International Motorsports Hall of Fame.
- Lee Iacocca, former chairman, Chrysler Corporation.
- Don Most, actor, Happy Days.
- James Ward Packard, co-founder of Packard Motor Company
- Roger Penske, NASCAR and IRL team owner.
- Joseph R. Perella, former Chairman of Investment Banking, Morgan Stanley.
Tragedies
Lehigh has suffered two tragedies in the past few decades which have been noted throughout the country.
Jeanne Clery
Lehigh's significance in the legal world is noted as the catalyst of the Clery Act. In Federal circles it is known as the Clery Disclosure of Campus Security Act. This case was based on the rape and murder of Jeanne Clery in 1986 which occurred in Clery's dorm room in Stoughton Hall in the Lower Centennial complex.Greg Hogan
Lehigh received attention from popular media outlets in 2006 after former sophomore class president Greg Hogan robbed a local savings bank to cover gambling debts he had accrued from PartyPoker.net. He pleaded guilty to felony robbery.
External links
- Lehigh University's Web site.
- Lehigh University athletics site.
- Campus radio station WLVR 91.3.
- Philadelphia Eagles Training Camp at Lehigh University.
- The Brown and White (school newspaper).
- The Marching 97.
Photo Gallery
Association of American Universities | Educational institutions established in 1865 | Lehigh Valley | Middle States Association of Colleges and Schools | National Football League summer camp sites | Northampton County, Pennsylvania | Patriot League | Space-grant universities | Technical universities | Universities and colleges in Pennsylvania
"Lehigh University"