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Lehigh Business
Lehigh Business Strategic Direction
Overview
Over the next five years Lehigh Business will pivot from the perspective of comparison to other business schools to celebrating and expanding our strengths and define our goals by our own aspirations rather than comparative metrics. Our innate and distinctive talents as scholars, teachers and citizens underpin this strategic vision and prompt us to envision how to use these talents to break boundaries to achieve greater heights as a modern business school. (Lehigh Business Strategic Direction was adopted January 2021.)
Breaking boundaries compels us to come out of our comfort zone, venture into new territories and embrace the change we want to see. We commit to break boundaries with our students, with our research and with our community.
Directional Strategy #1: Students
Our students at all levels will excel at taking ill-defined problems and creating the structure needed to resolve the situation. From the first day of the academic program through degree completion, our curricula and pedagogy will prepare them not only for the business world of today but also for lifelong learning.
Based on the belief that learning occurs as students are actively involved in a process of meaning and knowledge construction
as opposed to passively receiving information, we commit to a College-wide adoption of discovery based learning to strengthen our students critical thinking and problem solving abilities—the keys to success in later life. We recognize that this method of instruction may already be an established form in some of our classes; we are commit- ted to a College-wide adoption.
Action Priorities
- Inquiry based and problem based learning across the curriculum.
- Expand experiential educational opportunities.
- Implement signature experiences for all students that will enhance user experience.
Lehigh Business is uniquely situated to harness the academic offerings not only in our own College but also in the PC Rossin College of Engineering. We can leverage and build upon our long standing and highly successful programs such as Integrated Business and Engineering (IBE), Computer Science and Business (CSB), and the Masters in Financial Engineering (MSFE). We will explore and encourage collaborations in the new College of Health, the College of Arts and Sciences and with the College of Education as opportunities arise to deepen our strength in analytics and technology. (Since this plan was adopted, we have added an Integrated Business and Health (IBH) undergraduate degree and a 1-MBA/Master of Public Health dual degree.)
Action Priorities
- Ensure analytics competency excellence and increased analytics course development along with co-curricular activities (hackathons, case competitions, etc.).
- Seek out more cross University partner- ships to further leverage our strengths.
- Adopt classroom technology at the forefront of pedagogy.
Business education cannot exist solely in the classroom. To prepare our students for an ever changing and fast paced work force we must provide access to real world business settings. Through harnessing the power of technology that removes the barriers of geography we have an even greater opportunity to permit our students to move seamlessly from classroom to business setting.
Action Priorities
- More project based group learning engaged with a faculty coach and a corporate and/or government clients.
- Term time internships/co-ops coupled with on line classes to maintain progress to timely graduation.
Directional Strategy #2: Faculty
Faculty research remains the life blood of our College. The ambitious pursuit of knowledge embodies the core of our mission and business research from all disciplines forms the cornerstone of our endeavor. We commit ourselves to remaining at the vanguard of high impact research that addresses and contributes to the solution of business and societal questions.
Our faculty is renowned for a depth and breadth of scholarly activity that places us at the forefront of highly research active business schools. While celebrating the continued importance of this breadth, we are committed to developing a rich and varied body of research that views business through the lens of technology and vice versa. To stand in the intersection of business and technology acknowledges the power of leveraging analytics with business solutions to address societal problems and change the world.
Action Priorities
- Data Analytics oriented research center.
- Creation of data warehouse.
- Hire Post Docs to assist in research.
- Increase computing power available to faculty for research.
Applied and impactful research is the responsibility of the very best scholars. We commit to insuring that the findings and contributions of Lehigh Business faculty will inform not only other academics but also business and society as a whole. We will actively disseminate our research and engage in public discourse to heighten its impact.
Action Priorities
- Growth of Center activities.
- Increase Corporate and Government partnerships and research grants.
- Include students (UG, Masters and PhD) in research activities with goal of creating the next generation of critical thinkers and scholars.
- Expand media outreach.
- Create staff position for industry and social engagement.
Directional Strategy #3: Community
From our home in Bethlehem to our role as global citizens we will engage in the creation and promotion of societal good. Excellence in research and teaching are not insular undertakings. We take our responsibility to engage in the betterment of the economic and social infrastructure as a fundamental duty. Rather than building fences of exclusion we strive to open gates of inclusion.
Doing business in today’s world requires interaction with an ever-broadening audience of colleagues. To fully engage we must ensure that our students, faculty and staff represent diverse voices. This commitment is predicated on the idea that diversity, equity and inclusion is a goal in itself. We strive to take a leadership position in this area and create an environment that is not only diverse but also inclusive.
Action Priorities
- Implement strategies to meaningfully increase gender and ethnic diversity in faculty, staff and students along with policies that promote belonging and retention.
- Implement strategies that increase economic diversity in our student population.
- Partner with Lehigh Valley community to increase opportunities for area students in all levels of Lehigh Business programs (undergrad, masters, executive education).
- Integrate with alumni community in areas of diversity and social impact.
It is our responsibility to engage with our Bethlehem and Lehigh Valley community and work towards sustainable social impact. While social impact on a national and international scale is important and will be addressed, we must make a special effort to address the economic inequities that exist in our backyard through partnerships that promote economic growth.
Action Priorities
- Bring innovative programming to the Lehigh Valley to effectuate social impact (including work of SBDC).
- Create community partnerships.
- Partner with other Lehigh University Colleges to address intersectional needs (e.g., role of financial literacy and health outcomes).
We will infuse our curriculum with topics of social impact and social responsibility so that our students will learn while doing good and, conversely, do good while learning. This is done with the goal of planting the seeds of lifelong commitment to social impact as they graduate and enter the work force.
Action Priorities
- Review and revise learning objectives to reflect importance of diversity and inclusion.
- Students immersed in real world social problem solving.
- Yearly deep dive study of one societal problem (e.g., climate change or income inequality).
- Encourage research in socially import- ant domains and use case studies for illustration.
Download the Booklet
View our strategic plan as an interactive flip book or download as PDF.
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