Lehigh University’s college of education has received a $2.25 million gift to establish a Center for Urban Leadership that will provide research and professional programs to help develop the next generation of city leaders.
Faculty members from across the university, located in Bethlehem, Pa., will take part in the new center’s interdisciplinary programs, which will focus on education and the leadership of nonprofit organizations.
Peter Bennett, the chairman and chief executive officer of Liberty Partners, in New York City, made the gift. His company owns Edison Schools Inc., a national school management firm based in the city.
The university will raise an additional $2.75 million over the next several years to help make the center self-sustaining, it said last week in a press release.
Mr. Bennett, it said, was inspired to make the gift by the work of the Philadelphia Urban Leadership Program, which was funded three years ago by the U.S. Department of Education, Lehigh’s college of education, the National Association of Elementary School Principals, and the Philadelphia school district. To date, the program has educated 21 aspiring principals to work in schools in the city.
