Written by Colin McEvoy | September 28, 2026 | SHARE
Lehigh’s new role as co-chair of the U.N. Sustainable Development Goal 17 Hub will expand the university’s global leadership, partnerships and engagement with the United Nations.
Lehigh University has been named co-chair of a United Nations Academic Impact (UNAI) hub focused on advancing global partnerships for sustainable development, placing the university in a leadership role within a network of more than 1,900 higher education institutions worldwide.
The appointment expands Lehigh’s longstanding engagement with the United Nations and provides new opportunities to bring the university’s research, educational programs, and international partnerships to a global audience.
"The role will immediately raise Lehigh to a leadership capacity within this worldwide academic association and enable us to spotlight our research and programmatic initiatives at the UN and far beyond," said Bill Hunter, Director of the Lehigh University/United Nations (LU/UN) Partnership.
Lehigh has been named co-chair of the UNAI Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 17 Hub. The SDGs are 17 global targets adopted by U.N. member states to improve living standards and protect the planet by 2030, and SDG 17 specifically calls for strengthening the partnerships and resources needed to advance sustainable development worldwide. The appointment builds upon more than two decades of Lehigh engagement with the United Nations through the LU/UN Partnership, including programs that have connected students and faculty with U.N. officials, agencies, and global issues.
The appointment marks the LU/UN Partnership's first major initiative since becoming a full-time U.N.-facing office. The Office of Fellowship Advising (OFA), which previously shared an office with the partnership, recently integrated with the Lee Iacocca Institute for Global Leadership.
The LU/UN Partnership provides opportunities for Lehigh students, faculty, and staff to engage with the United Nations in meaningful ways. Each year, more than 1,000 Lehigh faculty, staff and students attend U.N. conferences, high-level briefings and private meetings with ambassadors and other U.N. officials.
Lehigh will share leadership of the SDG 17 hub with Tsinghua University in China. Both universities were named co-chairs on Aug. 24 by UNAI and the United Nations Department of Global Communications.
Andrew Ward, professor and chair of the Department of Management at Lehigh’s College of Business and a longtime Lehigh University representative to the United Nations, will serve as the university’s focal point for its co-chair role.
“It is an honor to work alongside Tsinghua University to make an impact in advancing SDG 17,” Ward said, “particularly in focusing on developing partnerships between higher education institutions globally, and in strengthening the linkage between academic institutions and the corporate and NGO sectors.”
Three universities will serve as vice chairs of the hub: the University of Colombo (Sri Lanka) is Vice Chair for Teaching and Education, Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam (Netherlands) is Vice Chair for Research, and the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro (Brazil) is Vice Chair for Outreach and Partnership.
Unlike goals focused on a single issue such as health, education or climate, SDG 17 addresses the partnerships that help make progress across the broader Sustainable Development Goals possible.
Its targets include international cooperation in science, technology and innovation; capacity-building; financing; trade; data-sharing; and partnerships among governments, universities, businesses and civil society.
That emphasis makes the hub particularly well suited to Lehigh’s work across disciplines and its growing network of international partnerships, Hunter said.
The hub structure is designed to bring together universities with different strengths and areas of expertise, allowing them to collaborate on programming, research and educational initiatives related to their assigned SDG.
For Lehigh, that could include webinars and presentations highlighting university expertise related to the different dimensions of SDG 17, along with programming at United Nations headquarters.
The role could also create connections with new research collaborators around the world and opportunities for faculty-led international programs involving institutions within the broader UNAI network, Hunter said.
UNAI was established in 2010 to connect institutions of higher education with the work and priorities of the United Nations. Today, its network includes more than 1,900 institutions in more than 150 countries, collectively reaching millions of students, faculty members and researchers.