Colleges Lafayette College

Lafayette College www.lafayette.edu

Lafayette College is a private institution that was founded in 1826. The campus is set on 340 acres in the suburban city of Easton located about 60 miles from Philadelphia and 70 from New York City. One perk of living in Pennsylvania’s Lehigh Valley: in warm months, students can shop at the nation’s oldest continuous open-air market. In the winter, students can go skiing and snowboarding in the nearby Pocono Mountains. Lafayette students engage in cutting-edge research under the mentorship of professors, compete in Division I athletics, and discover their passions both in and outside of the classroom. There are around 250 student organizations, including a popular Greek system of close to a dozen fraternities and sororities. Most students are required to live on campus at the residential college. Students can study abroad through the school’s interim programs at destinations like the Galapagos Islands, Bali and Egypt.

Academics

Lafayette College offers a Bachelor of Arts degree in 37 fields and also offers 14 Bachelor of Science degrees, 10 in areas of science and seven in fields of engineering. Lafayette College offers engineering programs within its liberal arts setting. The engineering programs offer six majors: chemical, civil and environmental, electrical and computer, mechanical, engineering studies, and integrative engineering. Integrative engineering combines disciplines and has focuses in robotics, environment and energy, and bioengineering. Students engage in cutting-edge research and hands-on learning experiences that are often not possible at other institutions until graduate school. The student-faculty ratio at Lafayette College is 10:1, and the school has 62% of its classes with fewer than 20 students. Popular majors include Economics, Mechanical Engineering, and Neuroscience.

Special Highlights

Innovation & Entrepreneurship. Classes are offered across a variety of disciplines, including Sociology of Consumerism and Marketing, Corporate Finance, Building the High Tech Startup, Financial Markets, Social Entrepreneurship, Foundations of Entrepreneurship and Economic Development, Intellectual Property Law for Engineers, and Industrial-Organizational Psychology. The Dyer Center implements student-focused activities to promote entrepreneurship, innovation, and creativity through programs that extend knowledge and skills beyond the classroom. The Tech Clinic is a small group of selected students who work together with faculty mentors to solve a real-world problem proposed by an industrial or government sponsor.

The Kirby Hall of Civil Rights. The Kirby Hall was constructed in the late 1920s between the First World War and the Great Depression. The design was rumored to be the most expensive building of its day. Lafayette selected the architectural firm Warren and Wetmore, known for their projects of designing the New York Yacht Club, the New York Biltmore Hotel, and Grand Central Station. The building’s exterior embraces styles of Republic Rome, the Renaissance, 17th English classicism, and Beaux-Arts. The interior lobby area contains broad staircases and is constructed of travertine marble. The building currently houses the Government and Law department. Students have access to the Kirby library, which has 20-foot ceilings and oak-paneled book cases.

School Mission & Unique Qualities

Lafayette College is dedicated to excellence in undergraduate education. Students are engaged in a transformative educational experience that bridges the liberal arts, engineering, and interdisciplinary study. The College fosters intellectual inquiry, artistic exploration, scholarship, and personal growth in a vibrant, diverse, and inclusive community. Lafayette students become critical thinkers, creative problem-solvers, and responsible citizens of the world. Lafayette’s 340-acre campus houses 69 buildings, including a 230-acre athletic campus. The campus buildings range in architectural style from Pardee Hall’s Second Empire design and Hogg Hall’s Collegiate Gothic, to the late modern architecture of the Williams Center for the Arts. The centerpiece of the Williams Center is the 400-seat theater-concert hall, and also contains a versatile art gallery, a 100-seat black box theater, and classrooms and studios for music and art.

Student Reviews…

“The campus is stunning, with its historic buildings and picturesque grounds providing an inspiring backdrop for learning. The professors are not only experts in their fields but also approachable and dedicated to their students’ success. However, there could be more diversity and inclusion initiatives on campus.”