Spring, a Time of Renewal

I had the opportunity to travel to Latin America late last year to meet with students who are studying abroad, as well as with alumni in Ecuador, Colombia, Guatemala and Panama. I was on the road during the spring semester as well, meeting with alumni across the country to share news about the great progress we are making toward the initial goals of our strategic plan.

In the area of educational innovation, a team has been tasked with developing ideas for an “exploratory semester” that would allow students to enroll at Lehigh without having to declare a college affiliation. That would give students an opportunity to determine which of the undergraduate colleges might be the best fit, given their interests and career goals. We also are exploring ways to integrate technology into students’ core Lehigh experience, along with business and the arts and humanities, to provide them with a framework to continue in any of those areas.

By design, we are not moving forward with every initiative in the strategic plan at the same pace. Trying to do everything all at once would be, in my view, the definition of chaos. Rather, we are implementing the plan in structured and thoughtful ways, so that we can measure our progress and address questions as they arise.

I will provide updates as we continue with the plan’s implementation, including our initiatives to transform the Mountaintop Campus and make Lehigh an organization of the future.

Stay tuned.

Joseph J. Helble '82
President of Lehigh University