Rocco J. Tresolini was a distinguished and well-respected legal scholar and much-loved Lehigh professor of political science, who taught courses on constitutional law, authored books on the Constitution and American government and served as chair of the then-department of government shortly before his sudden death in 1967 at age 47. He joined the faculty in 1949 after earning his undergraduate degree from Hartwick College and his M.A. and Ph.D. from Syracuse University.

Tresolini is perhaps best remembered at Lehigh for the lectureship established in his name in 1978, through the generosity of Lehigh’s Class of 1961, other alumni and friends of the university.

The Rocco J. Tresolini Lectureship brought a long list of legal luminaries to Lehigh, including U.S. Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia; activist Daniel Ellsberg, attorney Barry Scheck, former Attorney General Janet Reno, journalist Nina Totenberg, former White House Counsel John Dean and author Scott Turow.