Changes lead to new and improved Lehigh

OK … it’s 70 degrees one day and the next we get a snowfall!?!? Typical weather for the Lehigh Valley, as all of us who have spent time on South Mountain know. Some things never change.
But many things do change … and change quickly. The Lehigh campus is a perfect example. You would not recognize the place if you haven’t been back within the past year.
Close to 40 different projects began last summer and all but two are complete. We saw the completion of the walkway in the center of campus in front of the UC flag pole (it is fabulous if you haven’t seen it: Check out photos here); Lamberton Hall has been re-opened as a great space for students to meet and eat at the new “Hawk’s Nest Diner” (for photos, click here); more than 30 Greek chapter houses on the hill got renovated; Zoellner Arts Center got a facelift; we have a new road up at the top of Brodhead Avenue that allows you to loop around campus; and the Victorian-age street lighting along Packer Avenue is absolutely stunning in the evening.
Of the remaining two projects, the next bit of construction to wrap up is the Alumni Memorial Building Parking Garage (scheduled to be “parkable” sometime in May) and the accompanying Arrival Court for visitors to the building (scheduled to be unveiled in July). Click here to see recent photos of the garage project.
And the final project is the grand-lady of them all … Linderman Library. Talk about a renovation! Restoration is a better word actually. Wait until you see this beauty come back to life in January 2007. This alone will be worth the trip back. In fact, if you want to see it before then, just shoot me an e-mail and I will arrange for a sneak peak, hard-hat tour for you.
Another small—but extremely important—project is underway to mark the five-year anniversary of the 9/11 attacks on New York and Washington. Lehigh's youngest group of alumni, the Association of Student Alumni (ASAs), made the decision in September 2005 to form a 9/11 Memorial Committee. The committee’s goal was to design a memorial that would commemorate the eight alumni and four parents of alumni who lost their lives on 9/11.
The committee decided on a “Living Memorial” consisting of 12 trees lining a walkway, one for each of the twelve individuals. Beneath each tree will be a bronze dedication plaque illuminated by spotlights. Along the opposite side of the walkway, there will be a garden area with benches, to provide a place for quiet reflection. The location for this memorial is on the south side of the Alumni Memorial building.
With the design now complete, the committee’s current goal is to present the memorial to Lehigh during a dedication ceremony on Sept. 11. But we’re not all the way there yet … we need funding to complete this important initiative and we are counting on the support from the greater Lehigh Family to make the garden a reality. For more information, visit the September 11th Memorial Web site. Questions concerning donations can be addressed by Colleen Griggs, director of Student and Young Alumni programs, at (610) 758-3137 or via e-mail. Please help if you can.
I hope to see many of you back on campus for Reunion in June or anytime over the summer months. If you plan a trip to campus, please stop by to say hello and I’ll show you around a new and improved Lehigh campus!
Chris Marshall ‘88
Alumni Director
April 2006