LehighWeek Volume 14, Issue 1

              A hardy perennial
Buildings   and
grounds   get   summer
facelift
See Page 3
Volume 14, Issue 1
LehighWeek
The campus digest for innovation, news and events
Bring on Wofford
LU's    league   champs
begin  football   season
See page 4
August 30,2000
Gross
Gross leaving
as VP of finance
Rhonda Gross, vice president
for finance and administration
for the past six years, will resign
her position effective Dec. 31
to spend
more time
with her
family in
Pittsburgh.
President
Gregory
Farrington
praised Gross's leadership, productivity, financial rigor and sound business practices.
"Much of the progress on campus over the last six years stems
from Rhonda's leadership and
that of the rest of the finance and
administration team."
Under Gross's leadership,
Farrington said, Lehigh balanced its budget while creating
a new budget process that gave
more flexibility to individual
units. The budget grew from $191
million to $241 million, and the
endowment jumped from $350
million to $848 million. Lehigh
sold five bond issues totaling
$114 million.
New construction included
the Zoellner Arts Center, Sayre
Park Village, the Memorial and
AluHHii Walks, and plazas in
front of the University Center,
Packard Lab and Chandler-
Ullmann.
"The university now has an
excellent Campus Development
Guide, which should provide a
framework for restoration and
for physical changes to the campus for the next 20 years,"
Farrington said. "Both the
Morton Street 'Campus Square'
Project and E-Mountain are outgrowths of this guide."
Farrington said Gross also deserved credit for the subsidized
mortgage program for faculty and
staff buying homes on the South
Side, the 75-percent completion of
the LEWIS project, the growth of
new restaurants and business on
the South Side, and new cost-cutting and customer-service policies.
"Rhonda has been commuting
from her real home in Pittsburgh
to Bethlehem for six years,"
Farrington said. "It has not been an
easy lifestyle for her or her family."
In a letter to her staff, Gross
said, "I have been blessed with
having one of the finest staffs in
all of higher education. Lehigh is
a wonderful place with wonderful
people who care deeply about the
institution."
Gross's husband, Glen, is chief
executive officer of Wimco Metals
Inc., and her daughter, Amy, is a
third-year medical student at
MCP Hahnemann University.
Class of 2004
most selective ever
Members of the Class of
2004, the university's
most selective ever, began arriving on campus last week
for outdoor adventure and community service programs, and for
four days of freshman orientation
prior to the start of classes.
A total of 9,270 students applied for a place in the class, an
increase in applications of 5 percent over last year and almost
30 percent in the last five years.
Forty-eight percent of incoming
freshmen ranked in the top 10 percent of their high school class, and
their average SAT score was 1274.
The Class of 2004 has 1,137
members, who hail from 41
states and 15 countries. Three out
of four are from outside Pennsylvania. The class is 58 percent
men and 42 percent women. Fifteen percent are students of color.
"We are very excited to welcome these bright young men and
women to our campus," said
Lorna Hunter, dean of admissions. "With their talents and intelligence, they will not only succeed, but also will add considerably to the intellectual vitality of
our university."
The College of Arts and Sciences will enroll 41 percent of the
freshmen, the P.C. Rossin College of Engineering and Applied
Science, 35 percent, and the College of Business and Economics,
24 percent.
In the past few months,
Lehigh's increasing selectivity
was confirmed by two of
America's top college guides.
The university has joined the
ranks of only about 50 schools in
the U.S. that are considered
"most competitive" by Barron's
Profiles of American Colleges,
and "most difficult" by Peterson's
Guide to 4-Year Colleges. The
guides list Lehigh in their top admissions categories in their new,
2001 editions.
Among Pennsylvania colleges, only
Lehigh, Penn, Bryn
Mawr, Swarthmore and
Haverford are listed in
the top categories of
both guides.
"Our recruiting success, as reflected in these ratings, confirms
that a Lehigh degree is growing
in value," says Hunter. "Top students here and abroad use such
rating systems as guides to the
most selective colleges and universities, so being in this elite
group creates even more interest
in your institution."
The most popular majors in
the class are mechanical engineering, finance, computer sci-
Photosby Pam Shealey
Ralph Thomas '76, president
of the Alumni Association,
helps students get the spirit
at the freshman rally.
ence (in Arts and Sciences),
chemical engineering, and computer engineering.
More than 100 faculty and
staff volunteered to help the new
students move into their residence halls on Aug. 25.
-Rich Harry
Markley named
sr. VP; Yoshida,
Bell advance
In an effort to better manage the
rapid changes needed to modernize and improve the curriculum,
President Gregory C. Farrington
has announced several major administrative
changes.
Provost
Nelson
Markley
has taken
on the new
position of
senior vice
president
in charge of
Markley
Yoshida
PhotobyJohnKishlV
The new freshmen and their parents take time out from
moving in to enjoy a picnic lunch in front of the U.C. They
were joined by volunteers who helped them move.
designing and implementing
new academic programs, planning and policies. Ron Yoshida,
dean of the College of Education,
is succeeding Markley as provost
and vice president for academic
affairs, and Ray Bell, University Service Professor of Education and Social Relations, will
succeed Yoshida and become interim dean of the college.
"As we advance Lehigh
among the nation's finest universities," said Farrington, "it
has become clear that we must
sharpen our
focus on the
core of the
university,
the academic pro-
gram.
Nelson's extraordinary
expertise
and the
depth of experience he possesses, having
served as Provost at the University of Maryland and then at
Lehigh since 1997, will allow us
to accelerate our progress in
these areas."
One impetus for the new position, Farrington said, is the creation in the past year of more than
a dozen innovative academic programs that combine the
university's
strengths to
meet the demands of
the marketplace.
In three
years as
provost,
Farrington
said, Bell
Markley helped create new academic programs, provided consistent leadership during two
presidential transitions, managed the successful transition to
the new student information system, increased focus on the
freshman-year experience, reorganized Academic Affairs, appointed a vice provost for research, and helped strengthen
academic standards.
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