Lehigh Trustees Advocate for New Blueprint to Mold Campus for Coming Ages
Lehigh University Unveils 30-Year Campus Transformation Plan
Lehigh University has unveiled a comprehensive 30-year plan, titled "Making the Future: A Plan for the Lehigh Campus", to transform its physical spaces and secure its leadership and relevance for future generations. The plan is part of the broader "Inspiring the Future Makers" strategic initiative, emphasizing community involvement in shaping the campus's evolution.
The plan focuses on six distinct districts within the campus: the Historic Core, Sayre Park, Mountaintop, Goodman, Forest Park, and the Southside Gateway. Each district has its own character influenced by topography, architecture, landscape, use, and relationship to its surroundings.
The key objectives of the plan include enhancing physical spaces to support academic excellence and innovation, increasing integration with the surrounding community to reinforce the university’s regional impact, and supporting student achievement and faculty research through improved facilities.
A new undergraduate residential hall will be situated between two existing first-year halls on Lehigh's campus. The university has entered a design phase for this residence hall, which is expected to house up to 370 beds. Construction for the new residence hall is anticipated to begin in fall 2026.
The plan was developed over 18 months of engagement with students, faculty, staff, and trustees, in collaboration with Beyer Blinder Belle Architects & Planners. Nancy Rogo Trainer, Associate Vice President of Facilities and Campus Planning, noted that the plan provides a holistic approach to the university's built and natural environments, developed through feedback from over 1,400 members of the campus community.
The plan aims to make Lehigh a "campus of opportunity" - a unified yet richly diverse 1,600-acre contiguous environment that encourages discovery and experimentation. Activating Mountaintop continues to be a focus of the Lehigh Strategy, with concepts for graduate housing included in the plan.
Lehigh will launch the discovery phase of the Mountaintop graduate housing project later this fall. The university is also engaging planning firm DISGSAU to evaluate multiple options for a new residence hall in Sayre Park. Lehigh will engage stakeholders during the design phase in the coming year.
Lehigh President Joseph J. Helble '82 stated that the university's spaces are designed to support the student experience, interdisciplinary academics, leading research, and more. The executive summary of "Making the Future: A Plan for the Lehigh Campus" is available on the Campus Plan website. The plan offers a vision for ensuring the university’s vitality, beauty, and relevance for future generations, while acknowledging its historical growth and evolution.
In conclusion, Lehigh University's "Making the Future: A Plan for the Lehigh Campus" represents a significant step towards transforming its physical spaces to support academic excellence, innovation, and community engagement. The flexible framework of the plan ensures that Lehigh's campus will continue to inspire and support future generations.
- Lehigh University's 30-year plan, titled "Making the Future: A Plan for the Lehigh Campus," emphasizes community engagement in shaping the campus's evolution, aiming to make it a campus of opportunity.
- The plan was developed over 18 months with input from students, faculty, staff, and trustees, and has a focus on six distinct districts within the campus, each with its unique character.
- Key objectives of the plan include enhancing physical spaces to support academic excellence and innovation, increasing integration with the surrounding community, and supporting student achievement and faculty research through improved facilities.
- A new undergraduate residential hall, expected to house up to 370 beds, will be constructed in fall 2026, marking a significant addition to Lehigh's campus.
- The plan also includes concepts for graduate housing on the Mountaintop, and Lehigh will launch the discovery phase of the Mountaintop graduate housing project later this fall.
- The plan aims to provide a vision for lifelong learning, education-and-self-development, research, policy-and-legislation, general-news, politics, online-education, and diversity, ensuring the university’s vitality, beauty, and relevance for future generations.
