Lehigh360
The Lehigh360 initiative is Lehigh University’s hub for signature, high-impact, beyond-the-classroom, interdisciplinary and experiential learning opportunities across the campus. More importantly, it has plans to become the central catalyst for students crafting their personal narratives, identifying pathways to impact, discovering their central “why” during their educational journey, and building outcomes-focused portfolios highlighting their growth and achievements. Lehigh360, through direct and indirect involvement with 40+ student-facing programs, has the overarching goal of transforming Lehigh’s culture, ensuring that each and every Lehigh student has an equal opportunity to connect their passions with the possibilities available to them and participate in high-impact opportunities that suit their present and future goals (including finding the funding necessary to make participation possible for students with financial need). After accessing and participating in these programs, Lehigh360 aims to help students integrate these experiences back into their lives and craft outcomes-focused portfolios that will help distinguish them in job and graduate school applications and enable them to shape purposeful futures. Lehigh360 is the spark point for students to build skill sets and mindsets critical to their success in the workforce and in life, and to define themselves outside the boundaries of their courses and their major.
Lehigh360 has implemented an online searchable database as an information resource for every student – regardless of their background, major or advisor – to find, access, and apply to 40+ signature, high-impact program opportunities. We define a “high-impact” opportunity as one where students get to use their skills and learnings in real-world practice, make sustainable and tangible contributions, and walk away with impact and accomplishments. This could be an internship or externship, a Global Social Impact Fellowship, a Gryphon (Lehigh’s residential assistant) role, a peer mentoring opportunity, study abroad, or many others.
We have integrated the Lehigh360 database into the existing NavigateLU program in the 2024-25 academic year, wherein all first-year students are paired with faculty or staff “coaches” who serve as an important point of contact during their first semester. Beginning with the 2024-25 academic year, every NavigateLU coordinator is using the database as a tool to discuss high-impact opportunities with students and begin to help them think about programs they can participate in beyond the classroom
Many of the high-impact programs captured under the Lehigh360 umbrella are faculty-led or faculty-guided. Lehigh360 is also working to integrate into the coordinated student advising program at Lehigh, currently undergoing a restructuring. Through this, we are building a culture of faculty-led guidance where students’ whole selves, not just their academic performance and GPA, are taken into consideration when discussing their journey through higher education and beyond.
Next phases of this initiative will include a dedicated campus space where student “opportunity guides” are available to help students align their interests and build purpose into their Lehigh education. We hope to include alumni into this effort, helping to build a “lifelong Lehigh” culture which is part of our current strategic plan, Inspiring the Future Makers. The Lehigh360 team is also exploring and developing technology to help recommend opportunities to students to deepen their engagement, diversify their skillsets, and highlight the accomplishments of their work through conferences, papers, awards, fellowships, etc.
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- Students arrive at university ready and eager to participate in high-impact programs, not only to enroll in classes and start their path to a degree.
- Without a coordinated, centralized effort, students often only learn about high-impact programs via word of mouth, potentially missing out on opportunities that would be uniquely suited to them.
- There are still cultural, psychological, and financial barriers to true equity of participation in high-impact programs for all students. Without a broader cultural shift in place, students can too easily settle into thinking that such programs are “not for me” or “not for people like me” or “not for people with my career goals.” Overcoming these barriers takes concerted efforts by faculty, staff, administration, and students alike. Financial barriers are trickier to overcome. Lehigh is working through several methods of improving student funding request processes to determine which are most effective at connecting high-need students with the funds they need to do what programs they see as most beneficial to them.
- High-impact programs are a fruitful “third space” between core, degree-centric academics, and student clubs and organizations. The kinds of skill sets and mindsets that are developed through high-impact programs are often very different, and often have longer-lasting effects, than those built in the classroom or in fully extracurricular clubs and orgs. Students see this.
- Data is critical and often lacking in high-impact program work! Programs keep their own participant data, and many times it sits idle, not becoming part of a broader mapping or assessment strategy. It is important to get your institution’s chief data officer on board and supporting a broader goal of collecting, and analyzing, program data to ensure the largest return on investment for all students and programs. Understanding who is doing what when and with what funding is a great place to start!
