Rauch Foundation Grant to Establish Media Lab

Philip Rauch Jr. ’33 epitomized the Lehigh success story. Using what he learned as a business major and a student athlete while at Lehigh, he helped expand his father’s clamp manufacturing business into the successful, diversified enterprise that was the Ideal Corporation.

Rauch championed the university that enabled his illustrious career in numerous ways, most notably through a leadership philanthropic gift to help construct the Rauch Business Center and the Philip Rauch Fieldhouse. He also established The Philip Rauch Center for Business Communications as a resource for improving business and economics students’ writing and other professional skills.

In honor of his strong conviction that the ability to communicate is essential for business executives, the Rauch Foundation announced it will provide a generous grant to establish the Rauch Media and Communications Lab. The lab will be located in a new College of Business and Economics building (see accompanying story).

“My uncle, Philip Rauch, was committed to the success of Lehigh University,” said Nancy Rauch Douzinas, president of the Rauch Foundation. “He was especially passionate about the power of clear communications as a means of working together effectively. In fact, his original intention in creating The Philip Rauch Center for Business Communications was to find a way for engineers and business people to better understand one another.

“We know that he would be pleased that the Rauch Foundation will continue to support communications technology at Lehigh and ensure that the school keeps pace with the transformations driving business today, ” she said.

Dean Georgette Chapman Phillips said today’s business professionals must be adept with multimedia and communication tools to communicate the next best idea, and that it’s the college’s responsibility to ensure that its graduates have such skills.

The Rauch Foundation’s grant will re-invest in the college’s facilities and technology to ensure they are keeping pace with the transformations driving business forward. It will also support the mission of The Philip Rauch Center for Business Communications and make investments in student technological proficiency and enhanced communication and teamwork skills. Students and faculty will use state-of-the-art technologies to develop presentations, videos, podcasts and other technologically based communications.

Rauch and his brother, Louis, started the Rauch Foundation in 1961 in Garden City, New York. Its mission is to invest in ideas and organizations that spark and sustain systemic change in the community.

“My Great-Uncle Phil immensely appreciated Lehigh and the difference that it made in his life,” said Kristi Miller Mahoney ’05. “He was proud to support Lehigh and would be happy to know that his foundation is continuing to provide learning opportunities for College of Business and Economics students.”

Story by: Klaudia Jazwinska '18