With a $5 million gift, Vince ’75 and Ellen Forlenza have established a new merit-based, cohort-style scholarship program in Lehigh’s College of Health. The program will support students with full- and half-tuition scholarships, mentorship opportunities, and high-impact experiential learning designed to prepare future leaders in health, policy, and innovation.
“Vince and Ellen's generosity not only opens the door to Lehigh for deserving students, but it also supports the college’s growth and helps prepare students to become leaders who will go on to improve the health of communities around the world,” said President Joseph Helble ’82. “I am deeply grateful for and excited by the ways Vince and Ellen are impacting life at Lehigh.”
As chair of Lehigh’s Board of Trustees and a member of the College of Health’s Dean’s Advisory Council, Vince Forlenza has been a consistent advocate for the college and its mission. Both he and Ellen previously supported the college by establishing the Ellen and Vincent Forlenza ’75 Endowed Chair in Health Innovation and Technology.
Their latest gift builds on that commitment and draws inspiration from Lehigh’s Soaring Together Scholarship Program, which combines merit-based scholarships with experiential learning.
“Vince and Ellen's generosity [...] supports the college’s growth and helps prepare students to become leaders who will go on to improve the health of communities around the world.” — Joseph Helble '82
“I have had chances to meet with the Soaring Together Scholars, and they are absolutely wonderful individuals,” said Vince. “And the projects they are working on are exciting and have a real impact on the lives of people.”
Hearing from those students laid the groundwork for Vince and Ellen to imagine a similar model in the College of Health. The Forlenzas’ generosity will allow a small cohort of students to work in partnership with faculty, peers, and communities to address real-world health challenges.
The Forlenzas’ commitment to make Lehigh’s distinctive education available to talented, deserving students will help College of Health Dean Elizabeth Dolan grow the college’s enrollment and prepare a tight-knit group of students to lay the essential groundwork for improving health outcomes.
“Vince and Ellen have been exceptional advocates for the College of Health, its faculty, and students,” said Dolan. “I am excited for the ways their leadership will elevate the college and help us in our mission to provide experiential learning opportunities to every student.”
Scholarships are also deeply personal for the Forlenzas.
“Ellen and I are both from big families,” said Vince. “Ellen is from a family of five, and I am from a family of seven. We know that receiving a scholarship can make the whole difference in where a person goes to school, if they go to school at all.”
“We have many nieces and nephews going through the college decision process now,” Ellen added. “We hear the conversations their families are having and how the choice of a college often comes down to the amount of financial aid.” For the Forlenzas, no talented student should limit their future based on financial barriers.
Learning Well by Doing
For Vince and Ellen, the College of Health represents an exciting shift in how we understand and address health. Since its founding in 2019, the college has emphasized how health is shaped by policy, behavior, and environment, not just clinical care. That interdisciplinary approach is central to the college’s mission and directly reflected in this new scholarship program.
“Public health is an exciting field,” said Ellen. “It is exciting that it is changing so quickly, and responding to that change requires innovation in the way individuals, the public, and the government work together.”
That is why their gift includes $1 million in support for experiential learning, enabling scholars to take part in cross-sector internships, research, and community-based work throughout their studies. Those experiences will be integrated into the cohort model, encouraging students to learn from one another’s perspectives and deepen their interdisciplinary understanding of health.
As the recently retired executive chairman of the board of directors of Becton, Dickinson and Company, where he served for more than 40 years, Vince hopes more people come to appreciate the value of diverse experiences and perspectives in driving innovation, especially in health.
“The ability to listen to different perspectives is essential to quality work,” Vince said. “And the teams that can do that work seamlessly experience the most success.” He added, “That is what is so exciting about the College of Health — from the Dean’s Advisory Council down to the students, there are many ways in which people can work together and tap into others’ experiences, backgrounds, and talents.”
The Forlenzas hope that friends and alumni involved in the college will take part in the scholarship program as mentors, helping to shape the next generation of health leaders.
A Moment for Momentum
This gift comes at a time of great significance on the path to achieve the $1.25 billion goal of GO Beyond: The Campaign for Future Makers, which recently reached a fundraising milestone of $1 billion. Helping to achieve such a benchmark is a moment of pride and purpose for the Forlenzas.
“I believe in the university. I believe in the College of Health. Ellen and I both do,” said Vince. “And this was our chance to build on the university’s momentum and bring awareness to the incredible and exciting work Lehigh students and faculty are doing.”
Vince Forlenza now serves on the Moody’s Corporation Board of Directors as Chairman. He is chairman Emeritus of the Valley Health System Board of Trustees in Ridgewood NJ. He is chairman of the Board of Marabio, a company developing a diagnostic test for the risk of autism. He is a founding investor in MNHI, a start-up company that has recently launched a device to eliminate the use of forceps and vacuum in the birthing process during prolonged labor. He is a past member of the Advisory Board for the P.C. Rossin College of Engineering and Applied Science at Lehigh.
