Dec. 31 marked the conclusion of the College’s 10-year Live Connected, Lead Change fundraising campaign, which raised $425 million for financial aid and scholarships, academic initiatives, athletics, living and learning spaces on campus, and more. The summer issue of Lafayette will be dedicated to stories about the campaign’s impact.
Amid nearly 700 cheering alumni and friends, President Alison Byerly announced the record-breaking campaign total at Lafayette’s fourth annual NYC Holiday Party.
Lafayette is ranked No. 19 in Forbes’ 2019 listing of the best 50 American colleges and universities for international students. The business magazine weighed school quality at 60 percent and rewarded schools with full-need aid or need-blind admission policies for international students. Other factors included the size of international student bodies and high enrollment figures in majors popular with international students such as engineering, business, and math.
About 16 percent of each incoming class at Lafayette is comprised of international students, including dual passport holders. Some of the larger representative groups come from Bulgaria, China, India, Nepal, Turkey, and Zimbabwe.
“One Pard is an initiative based on the idea that one person stepping up to help another can make a world of difference, and as members of a common community, anyone can be the one to make that difference for a fellow Pard,” says Annette Diorio, vice president for campus life. “Whether walking someone home, interrupting an uncomfortable or dangerous situation, or letting someone know there is something wrong, there are dozens of ways we show up for one another every day.”
The One Pard kickoff included a balloon launch on the Quad.
The website onepard.lafayette.edu has information about ways members of the campus community can help one other and a list of campus resources available to support students in a variety of areas, including bias-related issues, hazing, sexual misconduct, mental health, and alcohol and other drug misuse. The site has a universal reporting form where students, faculty, and staff can share information if they think a student needs more help than they can provide.
Already a seasoned international traveler, Claire Grunewald ’20 is studying in Chile this semester through a prestigious David L. Boren Scholarship.
Boren Scholarships, an initiative of the National Security Education Program, provide funding opportunities for undergraduate students to develop their language and international skills in global regions critical to U.S. interests. As a condition of the scholarship, all Boren scholars agree to work in the federal government for at least one year.
Grunewald, a double major in international affairs and mathematics, is the second Lafayette student to receive this highly competitive scholarship. The first was Steven Berube ’17, who spent summer 2016 in Kazakhstan studying Russian.
Motivated by a desire to immerse herself in a new culture and refine her fluency in Spanish, Grunewald chose Chile upon becoming intrigued by its history through a class on Latin American literature.
“It called me,” says Grunewald, who has visited Peru through Lafayette’s Alternative School Break and Madagascar with Lafayette Initiative for Malagasy Education, both service programs.
Bobby Seale, co-founder of the Black Panther Party, addressed a packed Colton Chapel on Feb. 12 in the keynote event of Black Heritage Month. Topics included his life prior to forming the party and the group’s mission, approach, and activities. “Black unity is fine, but remember black unity is not about separation and hate,” he said. “Black unity is about having a catalyst to help humanize the world.”
Students with the “next big idea” will have support to bring these concepts to fruition through the Bergh Summer Accelerator, a new program of the Bradbury Dyer III ’64 Center for Innovation and Entrepreneurship.
Chip Bergh ’79, president and CEO of Levi Strauss & Co., provided a lead gift for mentoring, training, and financial support (up to $25,000 per team) over a 10-week period starting this summer. The funding will accommodate up to two teams of five students each, a total of 10 students every summer for the next three years.
“Our ambition from day one has been to build a center that is best in class for innovation and entrepreneurship,” says Dyer Center Director Yusuf Dahl. “When you look at centers that are leading the way in providing opportunities for students, a critical component is the summer accelerator experience.”
Two selected teams will receive mentorship and advising through a network of Dyer Center faculty, staff, seasoned entrepreneurs, and technology experts, with the ultimate goal of transitioning their startup ideas
to practical ventures.