Great things at Lehigh...Recession Edition

Not a day goes by without hearing the words "recession" or "financial crisis" around campus.
For example:
"Thanks to the current financial crisis, I lost my internship at [insert investment bank, company or summer job here] because they [failed, went bankrupt, got bought out, etc.]"

How does a major research university such as Lehigh help the economy? The recession's financial pressure are sometimes felt the most at the private colleges across America, as dollars need to be adjusted and re-appropriated to make ends meet. Colleges large and small have all taken hits to their endowment.

What's Lehigh doing on the education back-end? Providing great lecturers and financing good ideas.

Exhibit A: Joseph Perella, Lehigh Class of 1964 "Chairman and CEO of Perella Weinberg Partners (New
York and London), and former chairman of the institutional securities and investment banking group at Morgan Stanley". Mr. Perella gave his perspective of the financial crisis at the aptly named Perella Auditorium. Unfortunately, I had class the Wednesday that he gave the lecture. Thankfully, Lehigh was nice enough to videotape the whole lecture and put it online. (Bonus: Also available for download on iTunes and Windows Media!)

Exhibit B. Wright Martindale (Class of 1960) also gave a lecture last semester regarding our current financial situation. Video available here.

Exhibit C. Lehigh has had a great tradition of sponsoring and encouraging entrepreneurship among students. From the Rauch Business Center's Small Business Development Center to the City of Bethlehem itself, highlighted as one of America's top cities to start a small business in, encouragement is not in short supply during these tougher times. Results of my school's recent student entrepreneurship contest resulted in over $27,000 in grants awarded to students to help incubate their businesses.