Tierney Gallagher (right) is an assistant director in Lehigh’s Admissions office and works with prospective students and their families from Central/Southern NJ, South Carolina and Florida.
What was your major and class year?
TG: B.A. History 2013, M.Ed. Secondary Education 2014
As an undergrad, what organizations/clubs were you involved in?
TG: Orientation Leader, PreLUsion Leader, Greek Organization Delta Gamma, Panhellenic Council, Greek Emerging Mentors, Homework Club.
Why did you decide to attend Lehigh?
TG: My mother joked with me that Lehigh was the only school I visited that I wanted to get a sweatshirt, and I guess that is pretty telling! I think every member of the LU community would agree that what makes Lehigh so special is the people — from happy and sincere students to faculty who will notice that you have a Lehigh visitors bag and sit down with you for lunch at campus pizza (true story). You feel as though you are joining something bigger, and that you will be better off from it. I felt that way at 17 years old and still do now, over nine years later.
If someone was on their first trip to Lehigh, and you had to tell them one place to visit, where would that be?
TG: Stand at the flag pole on Asa Packer campus, from there you have a vantage point to see every iconic building on campus. Take in its beauty but also feel that you are at the center of a very active campus, as you see students host events on the front lawn, headed to class, the library, UC for lunch, a tour leaving from Alumni Memorial, and as any alum would, you look up and see the new graduating classes numbers and feel some major nostalgia.
At what point did you realize that you wanted to work in Lehigh admissions?
TG: As a student I sought out opportunities to become involved at Lehigh because I loved working with others and being a part of something I valued. After teaching high school for two years, I saw Admissions as a wonderful opportunity to use my passion of working with students and being a representative of the University to help Lehigh continue its success as my dream job — so far it has proven me right.
BONUS QUESTIONS
In seven of the last ten years, Lehigh football has defeated rival Lafayette. In that span, Lehigh basketball upset Duke in the NCAA tournament (2012). If you were forced to pick one of these accomplishments, meaning the other never happens, which would you pick and why?
TG: Is Lafayette even competition? I don’t know, Duke is a nationally known basketball powerhouse, as a student at the time, that victory was really, really sweet, and hey, I have no doubt we will keep beating Lafayette, but we will always have that one win over Duke!
You can only have one sandwich from The Goose for the rest of your life — what is it?
TG: R2D2 – I order it every… single… time.