Lafayette College is a private liberal arts and engineering college in Easton, Pennsylvania. It is affiliated with the Presbyterian Church but welcomes students of all religious backgrounds. The college was founded in 1826 by citizens of Easton, led by James Madison Porter, a lawyer. It was named for the Marquis de Lafayette, a hero of the American and French Revolutions, whom Porter had met and admired.
The American educator Francis Andrew March, a pioneer in the study of the English language, served on the Lafayette faculty from 1855 to 1906. He instituted an English program at Lafayette decades before the subject was widely adopted in colleges throughout the nation. In 1866, Lafayette became one of the first liberal arts colleges to offer a course in engineering.
Lafayette College grants bachelor’s degrees in the liberal arts, sciences, and engineering. The school’s sports teams are nicknamed the Leopards. Well-known Lafayette graduates include two Nobel Prize winners in physiology or medicine, Philip S. Hench and H. Keffer Hartline; United States Secretary of the Treasury William E. Simon; and Governor Robert B. Meyner of New Jersey. The college’s website at https://www.lafayette.edu/ provides additional information.
