Dr. Gregory C. Farrington
President, Lehigh University

Gregory C. Farrington was selected the 12th president of Lehigh University in May 1998. Prior to his Lehigh appointment, he had been Dean of the School of Engineering and Applied Science at the University of Pennsylvania. Throughout his academic career, he has proved to be an innovative leader with a vision for transforming higher education in the new millennium.

At Lehigh, Dr. Farrington has championed breaking down disciplinary walls and experimenting with new technologies to improve student learning. In addition, under his leadership, a $75-million "academic venture capital fund" was created to encourage faculty collaboration in developing programs that eschew traditional disciplinary boundaries and respond to the needs of society while adhering to the time-honored wisdom of developing well-rounded citizens.

He has been an effective advocate of partnering with the city of Bethlehem, the state and federal government, industry and other partners to make the city and region a better place to live, work and learn while strengthening the university and spurring regional economic development. Dr. Farrington was named by Pennsylvania Governor Ed Rendell to the state’s transition team for the Department of Community and Economic Development in January of 2003.

His commitment to the local community is also evident through his active participation on the board of trustees of St. Luke’s Hospital & Health Network and the National Museum of Industrial History, both in Bethlehem; the Lehigh Valley Partnership and Lehigh Valley Economic Development Corporation Boards. In addition, he serves on the Business-Higher Education Forum and the Association of Independent Colleges & Universities board of directors.

Dr. Farrington holds or shares more than two dozen patents and has written or edited several books and book chapters in his field as well as more than 100 technical publications. He serves on a number of national boards and committees dealing with education and technology.

Born in Bronxville, N.Y., he earned his Ph.D. from Harvard University in chemistry, specializing in electrochemistry, in 1972. He earned his A.M. degree in chemistry from Harvard University in 1970, after receiving his bachelor’s degree in chemistry from Clarkson University in 1968.

Dr. Farrington began his career as a chemist in 1972, when he joined the General Electric Company as a staff scientist in its Corporate Research and Development Center in Schenectady, N.Y. He joined the Department of Materials Science and Engineering of the University of Pennsylvania in 1979.