Lehigh's Academic Visitors Policy

Dear Colleagues,

The purpose of this email is to announce a new policy on Academic Visitors, effective July 1, 2021.

Being a leading research university requires that we are good stewards of the research funding that is critical to the success of Lehigh and our faculty. Complying with federal guidelines and laws related to this funding is essential.

Because of issues that have arisen in recent years that have led to the suspension of several grants, earlier this year, Baker Tilly (which performs internal audits for Lehigh) reviewed our processes for managing compliance with federal regulations regarding foreign influence in research. This review was performed at the request of the Trustee Audit Committee and University senior leadership, and was coordinated with University General Counsel. The scope of this review included export controls, liaison agreements, visiting research appointments, and identification of foreign participants in research.

Baker Tilly concluded that Lehigh does not have adequate policies, processes, or training regarding the rules that apply when we welcome visitors or collaborators to campus. Over the spring semester a group of individuals from the Provost’s Office, the Office of the Vice President for Research and the Office of General Counsel worked together to develop a visitors policy, as well as a process for appointing, tracking and reporting. During this process, information about this process has been shared in meetings with deans, department chairs and the university senate executive committee.

This new Academic Visitors Policy includes descriptions of who is and is not covered by this policy and also provides information regarding the documents that must be completed to request approval for visitors to campus. The new policy will replace the current process in place for University Research Fellowship Appointments.

The full process implementation for this policy is still underway and being managed by the Provost’s Office.  We are creating a new appointment letter template in DocuSign for academic visitors, as well as a checklist/information form (also in DocuSign). The information form will be required to be completed and will accompany the appointment letter. We are also creating a new web page that will provide information and resources to visitors and their host departments. Work related to tracking and reporting visitors in Banner is being developed, and that process will also be managed by the Provost’s Office.

We expect the process implementation to be completed by September 1, 2021. At that point, we will communicate the new process to deans and their office staff, associate deans, department chairs and department coordinators. In the meantime, please process Research Fellowship appointments in the same manner you have been.

If you have any questions regarding the new Academic Visitors Policy, feel free to contact Pat Mann in the Provost’s Office.

Best,
Nathan