• Source: Lehigh Valley Association of Independent Colleges

      • The Lehigh Valley Association of Independent Colleges (LVAIC) is an academic consortium between 6 independent Colleges in the Lehigh Valley: Lehigh University, Lafayette College, Cedar Crest College, Moravian University, DeSales University, and Muhlenberg College.


      History


      The LVAIC was founded in 1969 following a meeting of the six presidents of its member institutions.
      Moravian promotes the LVAIC and its programs, mostly due to the school's close collaboration with Lehigh through the program. Due to the similarity of the school's schedules, and their close proximity, LVAIC allows many Moravian students to take classes at Lehigh that would otherwise be unavailable at Moravian.
      In 1984 the LVAIC created the Lehigh Valley Center for Jewish Studies to create a central Jewish studies institution to develop and administer courses across LVAIC member schools.
      In 2011 the LVAIC offered joint study abroad programs, sending students from various member schools to Italy as part of an Italian language class.
      In 2012 the LVAIC partnered with Lehigh university with a $275,000 grant from the U.S. Department of Commerce to support entrepreneurship in the Lehigh Valley.
      In 2016 the LVAIC website would be totally redesigned by the Allentown based KDG group to better represent the LVAIC online, and make the website easier to use for students.
      In 2017 the LVAIC partnered with the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation to hold an art competition where students from the 6 member colleges could compete in an art consortium to "explore life" in the Lehigh Valley with a prize of $950,000. Lafayette would win the grant which would be used to build their William C. Buck Hall.
      In 2019 the LVAIC announced a minor in documentary story as a joint program between Lehigh Lafayette and Muhlenberg which would be cross listed with studies in American history, alongside German Chinese and English to promote a cross-disciplinary program. Additionally, the LVAIC announced a partnership with LANta to allow Lehigh and Lafayette students use their buses for free.
      In 2020, during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, the LVAIC received criticism due to none of its member schools freezing tuition which became a standard practice for other schools in the northeast with some of the schools even increasing tuition instead.
      In June 2024 the LVAIC announced that they would be naming Janet Baker, the executive director of Institutional Effectiveness at Cedar Crest College, as their new executive director.


      Function


      The core function of the LVAIC is to enable students from its member colleges to attend a course offered at another member college that isn't offered at their own. For example, Muhlenberg offers Italian language courses, but Moravian does not. A Moravian student can register with the LVAIC and take Muhlenberg’s Italian class while still being a full-time Moravian student. The LVAIC handles the registration and transfer of credits for no additional cost for the student, besides the cost of textbooks and supplies.
      Each member college's president is a member of the LVAIC's board which promotes the colleges interacting and sharing resources with each other.
      The LVAIC hosts the annual Bridging the Gap Student Leadership Conference which is supported by a Coalition of Diversity Administrators from the member schools. The Conference started life as an effort by the LVAIC to reduce The Rivalry tensions between students of color.


      Lehigh Valley Research Consortium


      The LVAIC also organizes the subsidiary the Lehigh Valley Research Consortium (LVRC) which runs inter-collegiate research programs. The LVRC publishes a yearly State of the Lehigh Valley which studies the economic and cultural health of the valley.
      In 2009 the LVRC financed a study that highlight the increasing number of Hispanic students in the Lehigh Valley's primary and high-schools noting 22 percent of students enrolled in the Lehigh Valley were classified as Hispanic, compared to a statewide rate of 7 percent.
      In 2013 the LVRC filed a report that the Lehigh Valley was especially lagging in post great recession rebuilding and job growth noting a serious decline in individuals from the Valley seeking a higher education.
      In 2014 the LVRC filed a report that the Lehigh Valley had a higher proportion of STEM jobs, at 19% compared to the northeast's 16%, of the total workforce, and that many of these STEM jobs do not need a college degree.
      In 2019 the LVRC named Christine Carpino, an assistant professor of history, literature, and languages at Cedar Crest College as its director.
      In 2022 the LVRC worked with Lafayette College and Moravian University to research elder care solutions to develop strategies for a local retirement community.


      Membership




      In addition to the 6 full time member institutions, a number of colleges are also associated with the LVAIC and some of its programs, including:

      Alvernia University
      Kutztown University
      Lehigh Carbon Community College
      Northampton Community College
      PennState Berks
      PennState Lehigh Valley
      Albright College


      Notes




      References

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