Brown and White Vol. 129 no. 8

              The Brown and White Vol. 129 No. 8
Tuesday, September 29, 2015 ‘All the Lehigh News First’
Lehigh University President
John D. Simon is halfway through
a cross-country tour to meet alumni
and inspire them to continue contrib-uting
to the university.
“There are 70,000 alums out there,
and they are fiercely passionate about
the institution,” Simon said.
By introducing alumni to the cur-rent
leadership at Lehigh, the tour
helps bridge the gap between alum-ni’s
own experiences at Lehigh and
the institution today.
According to Janet Norwood, the
senior director of advancement com-munications
at Lehigh, the tour is
traveling to eight cities around the
country. Simon said the cities were
chosen for their high concentration
of Lehigh graduates and their active
Zoellner Arts Center was built
to foster an environment where
artists and students pursuing the
arts can develop and learn and
artists can inspire performers by
putting on high-quality events.
Zoellner has both created
a forum for many kinds of arts
and provided students with an
extra-curricular option for quality
entertainment.
One student who has been tak-ing
advantage of the center is
Shiva Joshi, ’16, who recently
attended Pete Davidson’s stand-up
performance at the center.
Joshi said he’s attended events
at Zoellner since his first year at
Lehigh.
“It’s awesome how many shows
they are able to put on,” Joshi said.
“It’s definitely going to be one of
the main things I am going to miss
after graduating.”
A major challenge that Zoellner
faces is their programming signa-ture,
which is very different from
that of other venues in the Lehigh
Valley. The Sands Event Center,
the State Theatre in Easton and
ArtsQuest offer similar events, but
have different styles of ticketing
and financing their events. A rea-son
for this is that Zoellner acts
as unifying force for Lehigh and
the Bethlehem area, so they offer
deals and free shows for students
and community members.
alumni clubs.
In September, Simon went to New
York, Boston, Philadelphia and the
District of Columbia. At the end
of October, he will make another
round to Los Angeles, San Francisco,
Chicago and Pittsburgh.
Simon said that arranging these
trips into a tour allows him to inter-act
with as many alumni as possible
in his first year at Lehigh. He said
that the quick succession of the tour
“builds excitement and momentum
for all that is great about Lehigh.”
“The whirlwind of events speaks
to the priority that President Simon
puts on getting to know people at
Lehigh,” Norwood said. “He wants to
get out there early and meet them.”
The tour also focuses on continued
alumni involvement with the univer-
Celebrations begin for sesquicentennial Zoellner Arts
Center’s vision
unites Lehigh,
South Side
By HENRY GREENBERG
B&W Staff
Courtesy of Risdon Photography
Lehigh President John Simon speaks at the Our Lehigh event in
Washington D.C. on Sept. 17. The Our Lehigh tour aims to introduce
Simon to the Lehigh alumni community and encourage participation
See TOUR Page 3 in the Lehigh community after graduation.
See ZOELLNER Page 3
Simon hits the road for Our Lehigh tour
By KAREN KONKOLY
B&W Staff
Lehigh has entered its ses-quicentennial
year, and with
the monumental anniversary
comes campus-wide celebration.
Throughout the year, the univer-sity
will showcase its apprecia-tion
for the creative talent and
innovation that exists on South
Mountain.
According to the Lehigh
University website, the sesqui-centennial
year will be “shining a
light on the people, places, break-throughs
and traditions of the
past 150 years that made Lehigh
the institution that it is today—
and is poised to become tomor-row.”
The website details the history,
events and spirit that surround
Lehigh’s 150 years of redefin-ing
leadership and intellectual
advancement.
The Lehigh@150 Weekend will
be a four-day party.
A block party will take place
Thursday to kick off the cele-bration.
A farmer’s market will
take place between Zoellner
Arts Center and Rauch Business
Center from 11 a.m to 3 p.m.
For one day, the farmer’s mar-ket,
typically found in Farrington
Square, is relocating for Lehigh’s
sesquicentennial year celebration.
Fresh produce, lunch fare,
baked goods and natural soaps
will all be available for sale to
Founder’s Day participants.
On Friday, Founder’s Day will
honor the university’s founder,
Asa Packer.
Although Founder’s Day takes
place to honor Lehigh’s found-er,
it has also always
been a day to recognize
the leadership of faculty,
students, alumni and friends that
has made the institution strong
and brought it value.
One of Lehigh’s oldest tradi-tions
will take place with the
installation of the university’s
14th president, John D. Simon,
and the recognition of current
leaders.
Janet Norwood, the senior
director of advancement commu-nications,
said that the purpose
of the Founder’s Day activities is
“to showcase a lot of the student
efforts on campus and to incorpo-rate
community aspects. It’s arts,
it’s engineering, it’s community
stuff, and it’s open to everyone
who wants to come.”
Lehigh students will be showcas-ing
their talents at Vocalpalooza.
At 9 p.m. on Thursday, a combi-nation
of a cappella and dance
groups will feature their talents
in the outdoor concert pavilion.
Friday will feature a parade
down Packer Avenue led by
Lehigh’s Marching 97. That
By SARAH BOYLE
B&W Staff
evening will showcase the
Department of Theater’s open-ing
night of “God of Carnage” in
Zoellner Arts Center’s Diamond
Theater.
The sesquicentennial year cel-ebration
is expected to be a mon-umental
festivity that includes
participation from much of the
campus community.
“Because there wasn’t enough
capacity in the church for every-one
— it was just an overwhelm-ing
response to Founder’s Day
this year — there’s also a viewing
party at Grace Hall,” Norwood
said. “What’s happening in the
church is going to be broadcast
over in Grace, so that people can
participate.”
There are 500 students regis-tered
to attend the viewing party
in Grace Hall, and faculty and
staff are working to make the
event as inclusive as possible by
connecting the separate locations
and providing food, giveaways
and entertainment.
The community should expect a
Courtesy of Lehigh.edu
See 150th Page 2