What we do to prepare students
Campus Life
During orientation you are placed in one of five Commons, each named after one of the ships on which the Marquis sailed to and from America. This approach to campus life forms what we call a Connected Community. It is designed to help you form lasting connections across curricular, co-curricular, experiential, and residential experiences. Each Commons is comprised of a residence hall and serves as the foundation for your first-year community.
Alex Barnett ’21
Live/Commons
Gates Hall
Joined Commons Council to build a friendship group around the activities. Helped organize a Halloween party and Bingo night. “During your first week on campus, it’s nice to have an identity, a membership in a group that helps build unity. And the events bring people together who might normally not hang out.”
Brianna Bayly ’21
Live/Commons
Watson Hall
Signed up for Commons Council during the Activities Fair. Helped organize a de-stress event near finals week along with goodie bags at Valentine’s Day and a March Madness bracket party with pizza and wings. “The council is a great teamwork builder as we all share ideas and tasks. The events then bring the floors together, helping all of us interact and form new friendships.”
Area of Study
Arts and Humanities
A multidisciplinary project explores a variety of artistic voices within contemporary Muslim cultures.
Natural Science
Psychology students teach elementary kids about the brain.
Interdisciplinary
More than 100 students across three courses presented their research at the 14th Annual Multi-disciplinary Environmental Poster Session.
Engineering
Engineering students strive to improve personal care devices for local seniors.
Faculty
Professors are at the core of Lafayette. They are recognized scholars working on the frontiers of their disciplines, yet also have dedicated their lives to mentoring undergraduates. This is the Cur Non difference. They build relationships with students and prepare them for purposeful lives of accomplishment through intense personal experiences in the classroom, the field, the laboratory, and beyond.
Gary Gordon
The Mathematical Association of America is honoring Gary Gordon, Marshall R. Metzgar Professor and head of mathematics, for excellence in teaching at the world’s largest gathering of mathematicians. He uses games, puzzles, and models in his classroom to spark mathematical conversation and engagement, also actively helps students expand their horizons via research opportunities and travel experiences, including trips to Madagascar to mentor high school students there.
Brooks Thomas
Brooks Thomas, assistant professor of physics, received a three-year, $120,000 grant from the National Science Foundation to study the mysterious “dark matter” that makes up the majority of the matter in our universe. This grant will support Thomas in his research with students as he explores dark matter on two fronts. The first involves new ideas for what dark matter could be, while the second involves proposing experimental methods for probing the properties of dark matter.
Nandini Sikand
Nandini Sikand, associate professor of film and media studies, has received a Guggenheim Fellowship. She is one of 173 chosen to receive the fellowship from an applicant pool of nearly 3,000 scholars, artists, and scientists. Sikand will use the funds to complete Inside/Outside, a feature-length documentary film about women and mass incarceration in the United States as they struggle with the challenges of sexual assault, substance disorder, and motherhood.
Careers
No intern wants to be a glorified file clerk. Our Cur Non approach ensures that won’t happen. The Office of Career Services has earned national recognition for programs and outcomes. Nearly 85 percent of first-year students begin finding their postgraduate career during their first semester. From résumé building to job shadowing, from alumni networking to internships, the Gateway program matches students to counselors, and, together, they develop a flexible road map for life after graduation.
Matt Ackerman ’18, an English and policy studies double major (far right), spent four days with Kyle MacLelland ’11 (center), a producer for Larry King Now in Los Angeles. “The externship with Kyle confirmed my initial suspicions that I would love broadcast production,” Ackerman says. “I’m certainly looking to postgrad opportunities in this area. It combines the best of both worlds to me—it’s both journalistic and theatrical. It’s putting on a show. I love the energy behind it all.”
Celine Lawrence ’20, a philosophy major, shadowed the Honorable Richard Hughes ’83 of the Luzerne County Court of Common Pleas in Wilkes-Barre, Pa. “By participating in this externship, many of the fears I had possessed regarding becoming a lawyer were appeased,” Lawrence says. “I was afraid of becoming a trial lawyer since I’m such a quiet person. But after witnessing a lawyer who was also quiet perform well in the courtroom, and after learning about ways to cope with losing a trial, I no longer feel that fear. I’m more enthusiastic about pursuing a career in law.
Olivia Hineman ’19 (left) shadowed Aimee Smith ’14, an assistant buyer with Urban Outfitters, at the company’s Philadelphia headquarters. “I was able to see the balancing between financials and creativity,” says Hineman, an economics and mathematics double major. “Aimee and her team work together to try to make both sides of the business as content as possible. I am hoping to apply my mathematics and economics background to the retail industry, and this externship definitely inspired me.”
Meet Lafayette grads
Jiselle Peralta ’13
Her story illustrates the opportunities that surround our students … if they dive in headfirst.
Scholar & Adviser
Peralta’s pursuit of academic excellence began through the merit-based full-tuition Posse Foundation Scholarship. She now serves on the Posse New York Advisory Board.
First Class
She graduated as a founding member of the women’s and gender studies major and has presented at the Council of Lafayette Women Conference.
Study Abroad
She packed her bags and volunteered in Honduras, Haití, and Washington, D.C. Then came the full semester of studying in Costa Rica as well as an interim trip across Mexico
Campus Life
Peralta worked in the admissions and intercultural development offices, served as an after-school tutor at the Salvation Army, and sat on the board of Hispanic Society of Lafayette.
Teacher
Peralta started teaching 1st grade but now leads a 2nd-grade class at Achievement First Elementary. The classroom is named after none other than our very own Marquis!
Brad Bormann ’14
His story shows the dimensions of our students and may be like the story you create here.
leaderSHIP
Bormann made opening remarks at the Lafayette Leadership Institute where accomplished alumni shared their experiences and perspectives with 200 juniors and seniors.
Football
As an offensive lineman, he helped the team earn the Patriot League Championship trophy.
Medical School
After two years of service as a science teacher for Teach for America, Bormann is a second-year medical student at University
of Pennsylvania Perelman School of Medicine in Philadelphia.
Pepper Prize
As the “embodiment of the ideal Lafayette student,” he earned the Pepper Prize and presented the Marquis de Lafayette’s sword
to the Class of 2014.
Landis Center
Bormann was an avid volunteer at a local senior center through the Landis Center. He returned a year after graduation to surprise his friends at their annual “Senior Prom.” More so, he worked with psychology professor Jamila Bookwala in the Preminger Gerontology Scholar Program to interview elders at the center.