Lehigh University Science & Engineering Framework Plan

Strategizing for Growth and Resilience

The Science & Engineering Framework Plan lays out a path to build the University’s academic enterprise over time and guide facility renewal to respond to and reflect Lehigh’s academic priorities.

The Framework Plan focuses on two areas for the Science & Engineering Departments: programs and facilities. The program track analyzes utilization and condition and develops space needs for the future by documenting existing space, right-sized programs, and growth programs for 13 departments. Determining how much space is available and its condition helps to develop candidate buildings for a simple upgrade, a full renovation, or replacement. Conceptual estimates were established for proposed renovations and new buildings.

The second track is the physical evaluation of the condition of space, as it relates to its use or ‘space type.’ The concept calls for capital projects on the Packer Campus and two projects on the Mountaintop Campus. The Framework Plan emerges as a set of options —building possibilities—that will advance Lehigh’s academic priorities. By applying these priorities and looking at potential projects phased over time, the Framework Plan organizes ‘if-then’ scenarios for renewal. The Plan is a tool for long-term decision making, not a prescriptive chain of interlocked events.