LehighWeek Volume 12, Issue 02

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Faculty Promotions
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Volume 12, Issue 2
LehighWeek
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September 1,1998
It's college guide
time again!
■ Lehigh is offering one
I of America's best education values, according to
U.S. News & World
Report's 12th Annual
"America's Best Colleges" guidebook (1999
Edition). The university
ranked 22nd, up from 27th
last year, among 228
national universities, in
terms of offering students the best value for
their tuition dollar. The
rankings were devised
by U.S. News to provide a realistic measure of where students
can get the best education for
their money. The magazine
measures value by relating a
school's quality rankings—
Lehigh was 36th, down slightly
from 34th last year— with the
net cost to a student who receives the average level of financial aid.
■ Lehigh ranked 5th among 228
institutions in alumni giving.
Since alumni giving was factored into U.S. News' rankings
six years ago, Lehigh has been
in the top five among national
universities each year—including No. 1 in 1995.
■ The U.S. News "Best Colleges" guidebook, used by prospective students and parents
all over the world, features a
story and photo about Lehigh's
IPD program, another story
about the university's
President's Scholars Program
and stories about merit aid and
grade inflation trends that mention Lehigh.
■ In the Time I Princeton Review 1999 "Best College for You"
guidebook, senior Audrey Aloi
speaks about soccer and leadership development in an article
about the value of college athletics.
■ In the Princeton Review's
"The Best 311 Colleges: 1999
Edition," Lehigh is described as
being "noted for its distinguished engineering school and
strong College of Business and
Economics. A push in recent
years to improve the reputation
and quality of the liberal arts
programs—highlighted by a
brand-spanking-new performing arts facility—has paid off
quite handsomely."
■ The 1999 Fiske Guide to Colleges calls Lehigh students "an
ambitious bunch," and reports
that they "enjoy a balance of a
large research university and
the atmosphere of a small college."
President Farrington greets Class of 2002
Rob Upton
Not quite settled in himself, Lehigh's new president, Gregory Farrington, spends his second day on campus helping freshmen move in.
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Lehigh's new president,
Gregory Farrington,
moved into his office August 20 and began his
presidency the next day
by helping freshmen
move into their residence halls. Accompanied by Henry Odi,
assistant provost,
Farrington chatted with
parents and freshmen as
he carried bags and
boxes from cars and
vans up stairs into the
rooms. Farrington and
Odi were among 145 faculty and staff members
who helped the students
move in on a hot summer day.
Later in the day Farrington
gave advice to the freshman parents, drawing on his own experience as the father of a college
freshman last year. (His son,
Timothy, is now a sophomore at
Harvard.)
"My wife and I know first
hand what you are going
through," Farrington told the
freshman parents. "Last year,
we too drove our son to college,
and then drove away without
him. In all of my 20 years of
greeting first-year students and
their parents, I never really understood how it felt until I did it
for myself."
He acknowledged that some
parents are concerned about how
their student will adjust to college and to life away from home.
"We (can't) guarantee them
safe passage in their coming of
age. What we can guarantee is
that we will talk openly and honestly with them about the
choices they will face—about
academics and more personal
issues as well, including alcohol,
drugs and se-x," he said.
He told the parents to be confident that Lehigh works, and to
stay in touch with their son or
daughter. "Let them bloom," he
continued. "Their dreams may
be different from yours in some
ways. Let them go. Your children are here to learn for themselves how to handle responsibility. Don't fight their battles
for them...encourage them to
talk with their professor" and to
seek help from the support network in student affairs. He
ended by urging parents to "stay
involved, stay connected, stay
supportive, and send cookies!"
Freshman Convocation
Farrington also joined the
class at the raucous Freshman
Rally in Grace Hall August 23 as
it was "adopted" by the Class of
1952, and ended the weekend by
speaking to the Class of 2002 at
the solemn freshman convocation in a jammed Packer Chapel
Please see PRESIDENT on page 4
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