Education at Lehigh
Iacocca at Lehigh
Upon graduation from Allentown High School, Iacocca was determined to capitalize upon his interest in engineering. He considered a number of universities with strong engineering programs, but chose Lehigh, in large part because of its proximity to his family and close association with Bethlehem Steel.
Classes at Lehigh were small because of the war, and Iacocca received personal attention in all of his courses. He was encouraged by his family to succeed, and motivated by personal interest. Initially, Iacocca planned to major in mechanical engineering, but transferred to the program in industrial engineering where he exceled in business courses. In addition, he studied psychology and abnormal psychology, training which he credits with helping shape his perception of human behavior. In his Autobiography, he credits these classes with enabling him to figure out people pretty quickly.
Iacocca also participated in a number of extracurricular activities, including the student newspaper, The Brown and White.
By working through the summers, Iacocca was able to complete his college degree in three years. He graduated in the summer of 1945, with offers from both Princeton University and the Ford Motor Company.
Picture of American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME) shown at the top of the page. Lido Iacocca, the Vice President of the society, is second from the right in the front row.
War Years at Lehigh
The impact of WWII was felt on Lehigh’s campus like the rest of the nation. Many students, faculty and staff were drafted and the few who remained on the campus tried hard to continue the daily operations.
The Brown and White, determined not to cease its publication, ran a section called “G.I. Lehigh” dedicated to delivering news about the War.
“In addition to my studies, I got involved in lots of extracurricular activities. By far the most interesting was the time I spent on the school paper, The Brown and White. My first assignment was to interview a professor who had rigged up a little car that ran on charcoal.”
Lee Iacocca was subsequently promoted to Layout Editor as a result of this story at right, which was picked up by the Associated Press and published in over one hundred newspapers. Iacocca realized that the editor who determined placement of headlines yielded more power than other editors, as headlines were more widely read than the articles themselves. In this expanded role, Iacocca also had control over the length and placement of articles.
Iacocca. An Autobiography. With William Novak. p. 23.
As the make-up editor, Iacocca was in charge of the page layout of the Brown and White.