Let’s Go!

By the time you pick up this magazine, the Lehigh community will have gathered together on three separate occasions—first on campus, then in New York City, then in San Francisco—to celebrate the launch of the largest comprehensive campaign in university history.

GO: The Campaign for Lehigh is a $1 billion-plus fundraising and engagement initiative that will provide us with the resources we need to build a stronger, more dynamic Lehigh—a university that will enroll, support and graduate the brightest of students; that will innovate and lead in teaching and research; that will serve as a hub for innovation and discovery; that will engage with our community and our world in ever-more impactful ways; and that will mold the leaders and makers of tomorrow.

It is, at its very heart, a campaign about the future of Lehigh, and how the Lehigh of the future will change the world for the better. It is also, by its very nature, a hugely ambitious campaign, and we fully understand that the goals we have created within it are bold ones.

But we are also confident that, in the end, this campaign will take Lehigh to places it has never been before. It will ask us to embrace new ways of thinking, and new ways of doing. It will demand that we rethink what an institution of higher learning ought to be in the 21st century—and what role Lehigh should play in the wider world. Perhaps most importantly, it will challenge us to accept the truth that change begins—indeed, is only possible—with action. And that action begins with ... GO.

As a university, we now are off and running. The campaign launch events have come and gone, and even while we embrace the happy memories of those three celebratory days in late October, we also now look forward—with confidence and belief—knowing that we are ready to take on the hard work yet to come, knowing that we are ready to go.

Sincerely,
John D. Simon, President

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@lehighpressimon