3 minute read
President's Message
Dear LVC Community,
I am writing this letter from your beautiful campus as the cherry blossoms bloom and professors teach outside my window on the Academic Quad. This spring semester has been quite exciting, with some great news to share that will enhance our exceptional academic programs, further support regional and societal needs, and enable our graduates to increase their marketability and community impact.
In February, former NASA scientist Dr. Elizabeth Miller Bains ’64 and her husband, Dr. James A. Bains Jr., bequeathed nearly $6.2 million to LVC’s Physics Program. This historic gift will increase student-faculty research stipends; add a new major in Engineering Physics starting this fall; build a new Engineering Physics lab, research space, and equipment; provide additional support for students and faculty to present at conferences; and establish The Dr. Elizabeth M. Bains ’64 Professorship in Physics and The Dr. James A. Banks Jr. Professorship in Physics.
Elizabeth, just the second woman to graduate from Lebanon Valley College with a Physics degree, maintained a lifelong connection with several of her former professors, some of whom became close personal friends. She wants the strong student-faculty relationships and undergraduate research she experienced to continue as some of the College’s primary strengths. It is ingrained in our culture and mission.
The Bains’s generosity will help the College continue graduating teachers, scientists, engineers, researchers, and industry leaders through our Physics, Engineering 3+2, and Engineering Physics programs. The gift will expand opportunities for current and future students to research quantum information, materials science, and nuclear physics under faculty who have won prestigious National Science Foundation (NSF) grants in excess of $1 million for student-faculty research.
Also, in February, we learned that five LVC applicants had advanced to the final stage after being named Fulbright Semi-Finalists. Hopefully, by the time you read this, LVC will have added to the 17 students and alumni named Fulbright Finalists in the past eight years. We were also named a Fulbright Top Producing Institution for the fourth time in eight years.
In closing, I extend special gratitude to all our donors, including the recent inductees as LVC Lifetime Vickroy Society members (p. 11), the nine families inducted into the Lifetime Vickroy Society in early April, and two families inducted into the College’s highest giving society, The Laureate Society, also in April.
As a reminder, you can follow LVC’s social channels and visit the News page on our website to learn more about how our students continue to perform beyond expectations and achieve more than they even thought possible!
Go Valley!
