Global Lehigh (2026)

29/05/2026

Long before Lehigh’s ServeAbroad Antigua and Barbuda trip logged 6,500 service hours, organized 25 trips, and engaged 165 students, it began as a simple conversation over tea.

Dr. Bill Hunter, the founder of ServeAbroad Antigua and director of the Lehigh University/United Nations Partnership, first met Dame Deborah Mae Lovell while she was visiting Lehigh’s campus in 2010. Lovell was serving as the Antigua and Barbuda ambassador to the United States and traveled to Lehigh to meet with Antiguan and Barbudan students participating in the former Iacocca Global Village for Future Leaders summer program.

Hunter and Lovell became fast friends, and soon the idea emerged of Lehigh students visiting Antigua over a cup of tea. While Lovell claimed that Hunter’s students needed to visit the Caribbean beaches, Hunter also saw it as an opportunity for his students to get involved with the community of Antigua and Barbuda through a service project.

In 2011, Hunter launched the first ServeAbroad Antigua trip. Together, Hunter, Community Service Director Carolina Hernandez, and a small cohort of Lehigh students traveled to Antigua to paint an elementary school and immerse themselves in the culture. Over the next three years of the program, Lovell joined the students for a week, traveling on a bus around the island.

Read more at our Global Lehigh story here: https://global.lehigh.edu/news/lehigh-university-serveabroad-antigua-barbuda-2026-trip

28/05/2026

The Lehigh University/United Nations Partnership has celebrated several major milestones in recent years. Now, it has reached another: more than 25,000 Lehigh students, faculty and staff have directly participated in LU/UN programs since the university first earned U.N. NGO accreditation in 2004.

The LU/UN Partnership has hosted more than 500 U.N.-related programs since its inception, according to newly released figures. This includes almost 200 bus trips carrying Lehigh participants between Bethlehem and New York City for conferences, briefings and meetings at the U.N. headquarters, a cumulative round-trip journey of nearly 35,000 miles.

The Partnership has also facilitated more than 60 student internships at the U.N. and collaborated with more than 20 nongovernmental organizations around the world to support more than 250 Lehigh students serving as U.N. Youth Representatives.

“These milestones reflect more than just numbers,” said Bill Hunter, Director of Fellowship Advising and U.N. Programs. “They represent thousands of Lehigh students, faculty and staff engaging directly with global issues and building the skills needed to become effective changemakers in an increasingly interconnected world.”

Read more at our Global Lehigh story here: https://global.lehigh.edu/news/lehigh-university-united-nations-luun-partnership-25000-milestone

27/05/2026

When Charlotte DeForest ‘29 began digging through Lehigh University’s archives, she expected to find records of international students studying engineering in Bethlehem. What she discovered instead was a global history stretching back to the university’s earliest years.

“These students didn’t just come for a degree. They came for the tools to modernize and industrialize their nations,” said DeForest, a first-year student who extensively researched Lehigh’s international student history from 1865 to 1950.

DeForest, who is majoring in political science and economics, transformed her findings into an interactive website exploring Lehigh’s history of international students, featuring maps, archival images, scroll animations, timelines and historical profiles. Visitors can explore the website here, and future student researchers will continue expanding it.

DeForest was one of three student research interns who recently presented their semester-long research projects through the Office of International Affairs (OIA). Other projects included research on Lehigh alum Lee Iacocca’s leadership philosophy and the economic impact of international student entrepreneurs in the Lehigh Valley.

Read more at our Global Lehigh story here: https://global.lehigh.edu/news/lehigh-university-oia-student-research-intern-presentations-2026

22/05/2026

The International Center for Academic and Professional English (ICAPE) will host on Wednesday about how to plan and deliver an engaging in-person oral presentation for a linguistically and culturally diverse audience.

The free workshop, called "Giving Effective Oral Presentations," will be held on May 27 at 1:30 PM in Maginnes Hall 270. It partially fulfills the requirements for the Lehigh Global Career Accelerator (GCA) micro-credential.

ICAPE at Lehigh University helps multilingual speakers of English at the intermediate to advanced levels of proficiency improve their communication skills with flexible, student-focused program options that are grounded in evidence-based practice and connected to the resources of the larger university community.

For more information or to RSVP, visit here: https://lehigh.campuslabs.com/engage/event/12472752

21/05/2026

Lehigh University continues its extensive and committed history with the Fulbright Scholarship program as two students have been named recipients of the award for the 2026-27 academic year while another has been selected as an alternate.

Afiwa Afandalo ’24 will be traveling to Cameroon to serve as an English teaching assistant and Kendalin Flores ’26 is headed to the Dominican Republic as a marine biology researcher. Karina Makhani ’26 is an alternate for the Master of Applied Sciences and Engineering: Computer Science at VUB - Vrije Universiteit Brussel in Belgium.

Combined with nine faculty Fulbright Scholarships this academic year, Lehigh has set a record for most recipients in a single cycle. In 2018-19, Lehigh had six total scholars and last academic year the university had its second-highest cycle with five combined students and faculty members.

Read more here: https://news.lehigh.edu/student-fulbright-scholars-help-lehigh-reach-record-number-of-recipients

19/05/2026

ICYMI: Dozens of students, alumni, faculty, staff and community partners gathered recently for a community open house and celebration at the Lee Iacocca Institute for Global Leadership’s recently established home in the Rauch Business Center.

The event highlighted the wide range of programs and experiences offered through the Institute while reflecting on how its new name and evolving mission honor the visionary legacy of Lehigh University alumnus Lee Iacocca ‘45.

“The name may be new, but it very much reflects the history of the Lee Iacocca Institute for Global Leadership,” said Cheryl Matherly, Vice President & Vice Provost for International Affairs at Lehigh’s Office of International Affairs (OIA).

“That idea of leadership and how we think about preparing people in these intense cross-cultural encounters to be leaders, that’s always who we’ve been,” Matherly said at the open house. “We prepare students to be able to work across difference; to work across cultures.”

Read more at our Global Lehigh story here: https://global.lehigh.edu/news/lehigh-university-lee-iacocca-institute-global-leadership-community-open-house

07/05/2026

Dozens of students, alumni, faculty, staff and community partners gathered last week for a community open house and celebration at the Lee Iacocca Institute for Global Leadership’s recently established home in the Rauch Business Center.

The event highlighted the wide range of programs and experiences offered through the Institute while reflecting on how its new name and evolving mission honor the visionary legacy of Lehigh University alumnus Lee Iacocca ‘45.

“The name may be new, but it very much reflects the history of the Lee Iacocca Institute for Global Leadership,” said Cheryl Matherly, Vice President & Vice Provost for International Affairs at Lehigh’s Office of International Affairs (OIA).

“That idea of leadership and how we think about preparing people in these intense cross-cultural encounters to be leaders, that’s always who we’ve been,” Matherly said at the open hour on April 30. “We prepare students to be able to work across difference; to work across cultures.”

Read more at our Global Lehigh story here: https://global.lehigh.edu/news/lehigh-university-lee-iacocca-institute-global-leadership-community-open-house

05/05/2026

For Indira Alvarado ‘26, the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) are not just a global framework. They are something she sees taking shape every day at Lehigh University and across the Lehigh Valley community.

“People here are constantly doing things in the Bethlehem community that actually contribute to the Sustainable Development Goals,” said Alvarado, who is graduating this month with a degree in political science. “We just don’t always recognize it.”

From volunteering through Lehigh’s Community Service Office to experiential learning through Creative Inquiry projects that engage directly with local organizations, she sees a clear link between global challenges and the work happening in the Lehigh Valley.

Alvarado and Abraham Yarba ‘28, an electrical engineering major at Lehigh, shared those perspectives at the United Nations on April 17. They discussed how universities can collaborate more intentionally on the SDGs, starting with a better understanding of the communities they serve.

Read more at our Global Lehigh story here: https://global.lehigh.edu/news/lehigh-university-united-nations-presentation-2026-global-local

01/05/2026

As a Lehigh University/United Nations (LU/UN) Faculty Fellow, Assistant Professor Mohammad Jibriel is using his work to connect research, teaching, and United Nations engagement in ways that bring real-world health inequities into focus.

Jibriel’s project centers on global health equity and aligns with the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals, including good health and well-being, gender equality, and reduced inequalities.

“My goal has been to help ensure that the experiences of Sudanese communities are represented in global policy discussions, particularly those focused on health, humanitarian response, and gender equity,” he said.

The LU/UN Faculty Fellows Program supports faculty in integrating United Nations access into their academic work. Read more about Jibriel's experience as a Faculty Fellow here: https://global.lehigh.edu/news/lehigh-university-faculty-fellows-mohammed-jibriel

30/04/2026

More than six dozen Lehigh University students be interning in 19 different countries this summer, including Japan, France, Germany, India, Ireland, South Africa, Ecuador, Montenegro, Singapore, Thailand, and more.

Those students, who are participating in the Iacocca International Internship Program, gathered recently for a sendoff event that included past IIIP alumni sharing their experiences and advice during a panel discussion.

“All that’s left between you and your internship is an airline flight,” said Cheryl Matherly, Vice President and Vice Provost for International Affairs. “This program is incredibly special. It’s a big challenge that you’re taking. We’re very proud of you taking this step.”

IIIP is a program of the Lee Iacocca Institute for Global Leadership. Since its launch in 2011, IIIP has placed nearly 900 students in high-quality summer internships across five dozen countries.

Read more about the program and sendoff event here: https://global.lehigh.edu/news/lehigh-university-iacocca-international-internship-program-iiip-2026-sendoff

Global Lehigh

29/05/2026

28/05/2026

27/05/2026

22/05/2026

21/05/2026

19/05/2026

07/05/2026

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01/05/2026

30/04/2026

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