If you’re new to the field of higher education, or just new to Lehigh, you can sometimes find yourself perplexed. Is Ed Pol a person? What is shared governance? Do staff and faculty have the same working relationship to Lehigh?
These and many other questions were answered in July at the debut presentation of Higher Edi-quette, a workshop aimed at demystifying the lingo and legalisms of the university workplace. Lehigh’s General Counsel Frank Roth and Associate Vice President for Human ResourcesJackie Matthews led the 90-minute program.
Jackie shared nearly 150 years of Lehigh history, discussed trends in higher education, and reviewed some of the important distinctions in the roles of faculty and staff.
Frank explained what it means to be a "private, independent, licensed and accredited, non-sectarian, non-profit, tax-exempt, doctoral, research university." As he explained each part of Lehigh’s identity, Frank painted the picture of the university’s role and legal obligation in the community, the state and the nation. 
Among the more than 50 staff members in attendance was Lauren Furrer, who recently transferred to a new role in Communications and Public Affairs after working in Business Services.
“I attended because I came to Lehigh from a corporate environment,” she noted. “I wanted to learn everything I could about both Lehigh specifically, and about working
in higher education in general.”
Lauren thinks a lot of what she learned will come in handy as she transitions to a new area of the university. “Learning about the policies behind higher ed procedures, and how they came to be will be very helpful in my day-to-day job,” she said. “It gives me a greater understanding of why things are done the way they are done.”
Did you miss the workshop? HR is working to schedule another presentation in the future. Until then, you can access all of the materials provided prior to and during the program on the HR website.