Timeline of Diversity & Inclusion Efforts
The following items represent a sampling of efforts, initiatives and programming developments related to diversity and inclusion on the Lehigh campus since 2013. All programs are ongoing unless noted.
2020
- Lehigh Names Two New Directors to Help Lead Student Access, Success and Multicultural Efforts
- Celebrating Ten Years of BALANCE; Lehigh’s Black and Latino Alumni Network for Community and Equity
- Best-selling Author and Higher Ed Thought-Leader Beverly Tatum to Deliver 2020 MLK Address [CANCELED]
2019
- MLK Committee hosts Justice Panel to discuss the evolution of campus activism
- Historian Ibram X. Kendi delivers Fall MLK Keynote
- Lehigh celebrates the 30th Anniversary of the UMOJA House
- Diversity Champions Program launched
- Lehigh Receives HEED Award Recognizing Commitment to Diversity & Inclusion
- Alpha Alpha Alpha Honor Society Chapter Established for First Generation Students
- Women's rights icon Anita Hill delivers Lehigh's MLK Address
- Comprehensive approach to staff diversity training, Cornerstones of Community, is developed
- Lehigh named among most LGBTQ+ friendly campuses in the nation by College Consensus
2018
- Lehigh hosts Summit on Faculty Service Engagement
- Mentor Collective announced to pair first-year students with upper-class student mentors
- Rabbi Steven Nathan named Director of Jewish Student Life
- Lehigh hosts Hip Hop Festival
- Check Your Bl!nd Spots program comes to Lehigh as part of CEO Diversity Action initiative
- Lehigh marks 50-year anniversary of MLK assassination
- Lehigh receives state grant for It’s On Us program to end sexual assault
- First Posse cohort admitted
- Passport to Success program begins
2017
- Newly named Chief Diversity Officer Donald Outing establishes Office of Diversity, Inclusion and Equity, which includes a newly named deputy vice provost for equity and inclusion and incorporates advocacy and equity offices in division (Multicultural Affairs, Pride Center and Gender Equity).
- Dear World event comes to Lehigh
- George White named Managing Director for Student Access and Success at Lehigh
- Lehigh hosts summit on inclusive excellence with Tim Ryan, U.S. chair and sr. partner at PricewaterhouseCoopers
- Lehigh President John D. Simon named to President’s Circle of CEO Action for Diversity and Inclusion, the largest CEO-driven business commitment to advance diversity and inclusion within the workplace
- Dr. Walead Mosaad named first director of Muslim Student Life
- Year three of The Lehigh Survey: Survey conducted, results and recommendations from CEC shared with campus
- Lehigh University Alumni Association hires Miguel Rivera to lead diversity outreach efforts
- First annual Lehigh Pride celebration (Pride-a-Palooza) occurs
- The Rev. Sharon Washington Risher addresses the process of forgiveness after the Charleston shootings in MLK talk.
2016
- Year Two of The Lehigh Survey: Survey conducted, results and recommendations from CEC shared with campus
- VISIONS training continues
- Lehigh names Dr. Donald Outing as university’s first chief diversity officer
- More than 100 members of the campus community gather to discuss concrete ways in which faculty, staff and students can help Lehigh evolve into a more welcoming and inclusive university
- Office of Disability Support Services and the Peer Mentor program recognized for supporting students with disabilities by providing equal access in the form of University Design in Learning
- Without Walls public art project debuts at Lehigh
- Lehigh joins American Talent Initiative to expand college access for lower-income students
- Lehigh concludes three-year commitment to national anti-hazing consortium
- Women’s Center marks 25th year at Lehigh
- Africana Studies program awarded a prestigious $500,000 challenge grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities, which creates an endowment to expand public humanities initiatives
- Nearly 5,000 students, staff and faculty complete online harassment and discrimination training.
- More than 1,327 members of Greek system and 138 graduate students complete in-person trainings on harassment, discrimination and gender violence.
- Student Affairs begins piloting Restorative Practices model that emphasizes repairing harm and building community
- Cornell Interactive Theatre Ensemble (CITE) presents to more than 250 Lehigh community members on stereotypical biases.
- Equal Opportunity Compliance Coordinator works with CEC to conduct university wide diversity and inclusion audit
- Iris Mentorship program for LGBTQ+ undergraduate and graduate students launched
- Activist and filmmaker Bree Newsome gives MLK talk
2015
- Lehigh hires first Equal Opportunity Compliance Officer
- VISIONS training continues
- Year One of The Lehigh Survey: Survey conducted, results and recommendations from CEC shared with campus
- Commission on Residential Environment (CORE) issues final report
- CBE hosts impact symposium to foster dialogue on workplace diversity
- Faculty and Staff of Color Network expands outreach efforts
- PreLUsion for students with learning disabilities
- Lehigh hosts three-day conference to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the assassination of Malcolm X
- Lehigh marks 25th year of Americans with Disabilities Act with focus on learning support programs
- Lehigh hosts Summer Scholars Institute to support first-gen students
- LUAlly Training program launched
2014
- Lehigh enters into Voluntary Resolution Agreement with U.S. Dept. of Education for Civil Rights to reflect commitment to improve campus climate and create a community free from harassment and discrimination.
- Lehigh begins VISIONS training for trustees, administrators, faculty, staff and students
- Summer Scholars Institute is developed and debuts
- Winter Gryphon training incorporates focus on diversity and inclusion
- The Pride Center is established
- PreLUsion for students with learning disabilities
- Umoja House transformation
- Gender inclusive bathrooms in academic buildings
- Lehigh adopts and distributes non-discrimination statement
- Harassment and non-discrimination policies revised
- Lehigh hosts Success Academy students
- New and improved UMOJA is dedicated
2013
- Lehigh preLUsion program — Excel at Lehigh — focuses on the academic and interpersonal transition to college for underrepresented and first generation students
- Council for Equity and Community (CEC) reconstituted
- Martin Luther King celebration expanded from one week to year–long slate of events and programs focused on social justice
- Established support funds for multicultural Greek chapters
- Male Faculty Advocate Group for Female Faculty Initiative launched
- LU joined Hazing Coalition, a three-year project involving leading researchers and colleges and universities across the country, to emphasize the value of respect for fellow students in all campus organizations
- Development of Inclusion Strategic Action Plan for each academic department launched
- Faculty voted to include Principles of Our Equitable Community on all class syllabi
- Faculty education on disabilities expanded to include Autism Spectrum Disorders
- Establishment of a campus-based Leadershape program at Lehigh to be offered to 60 students
- Additional Gryphon in Umoja House
- Bystander Intervention training for student leaders and organizations
- Changes in Greek Accreditation to incorporate diversity into every section