Campus Shorts

Nine alumni step up to the mic for new podcast

For nearly a decade, Prof. Mark Crain has led his students in the production of professional-quality video essays, thoroughly examining a range of weighty topics with local, regional, and national subject area experts in partnership with a local public television station. For the first time, Crain, William E. Simon Professor of Political Economy and chair of policy studies, tasked his First-Year Seminar students to diversify the mode of delivery by producing a series of podcasts. Produced in collaboration with Lehigh Valley Public Media, the series features interviews with nine alumni:

Chris Caine ’78, president and CEO, Mercator XXI
Angel Mendez ’82, executive chairman, board of directors, LevaData
Amanda Pisetzner ’10, senior editorial producer, VICE Media
Tim Hylan ’88, vice president, Internal Medicine Field Medical Director Group at Pfizer Inc.
Samantha Jordan ’13, foreign service officer, U.S. Department of State
Sean Bluni ’90, CEO, Hardesty & Hanover, LLC
Katherine Mulready ’04, senior vice president and chief strategy officer, Colorado Hospital Association
Oliver Bowen ’05, digital systems architect, Perceptive
Kevin Mandia ’92, CEO and board director, Mandiant

Listen to the podcasts and read more here.

New Pedestrian-Friendly Trail to Connect College Hill with Easton

State funding will enable the College to build a public trail that will provide a safe, accessible route linking the College Hill neighborhood and Lafayette’s hilltop campus with downtown Easton. The Commonwealth Financing Authority approved Lafayette’s request for an $869,694 grant to create a multiuse trail that will extend diagonally across the escarpment from William E. Simon Center for Economics and Business to the Karl Stirner trailhead at North Third Street. The trail will link an existing parking lot along South College Drive on the east end of campus to the midpoint of the staircase that connects main campus with Williams Art Campus and downtown Easton, and will continue onto the Karl Stirner trail, intersecting the steps along the way. The project complements Lafayette’s previous partnership with the state to fund forthcoming improvements to the historic stairs that connect College Hill and North Third Street. “Both of these projects will strengthen Lafayette’s connections with the broader community, help reduce carbon emissions from vehicles, make the city’s neighborhoods more attractive and accessible, and support economic and tourism activity,” President Nicole Farmer Hurd says.

More Students Than Ever Apply to Lafayette

Despite the challenges of COVID, which regularly altered travel and visitation plans as well as demanded in-person, virtual, and hybrid events, Lafayette Admissions received a record number of applications: 10,394. It is almost a 30% increase over the previous year and 12% above the record set in 2018 (9,236). “In 2016 we set a goal to reach 10,000 applications by 2025,” says Greg MacDonald, vice president of enrollment management. “I love that we reached our goal early and how the entire community pulled together to make it happen. A focused enrollment team rose to the challenge, but our colleagues on campus responsible for keeping the College operating in person also deserve much of the credit.”

The number of applications shows an increase in international as well as tri-state students. “Prospects see us as a destination for undergraduate research, faculty mentors, leadership development, and cross-disciplinary learning,” says Matt Hyde, assistant vice president of enrollment management and dean of admissions.