Lehigh University recently released a new campus mobile app designed to keep the campus community informed about events, activities and safety information.

According to an official university release, the Lehigh University Mobile App replaces the existing LehighU Live offering, and is the first step in a larger rollout of new features designed to help the Lehigh community better navigate life on campus.

Features of the new Lehigh University Mobile App include campus bus tracking, an interactive campus map and directory, Lehigh Dining services information, and up-to-date access to emergency contact information, school news, event calendars and social media links.

The new app is the result of a collaborative effort between Lehigh's Library and Technology Services (LTS) and University Communications and Public Affairs. The app is also a collaborative effort with Ellucian and will integrate the company's expanding student services suite.

Merging the new campus mobile app -- previously a custom-developed offering -- with Ellucian’s software is expected to enable the Lehigh community to benefit from future Ellucian rollouts and features.

“What’s nice about this new app is that it integrates directly with Banner,” says Erica Gluszynski, senior database analyst for the enterprise systems department of Lehigh Technology Services. “As Ellucian develops new functionality within the mobile app, it will eventually become available in the Lehigh app. So in the future, you are going to be able to view grades or see your course schedule through the app.”

Ellucian will also cover ongoing app maintenance efforts.

“They are going to take care of the servers, as well as the application upgrades,” Gluszynski says. “This is going to give us the opportunity to fully take advantage of the features the Ellucian app has to offer, enabling us with the ability to add more relevant content and options for users.”

With regards to campus security, the new app will serve as a key information source and will act as a compliment to Lehigh's existing personal safety app HawkWatch. That separation was a purposeful choice by campus administrators, as HawkWatch includes a number of options designed for emergency situations that can put students in direct contact with campus police dispatchers.

“We didn’t want to clog up the emergency app with news and all this other stuff, which lessens the value and ease of use of an emergency app,” says Ashley Ryan, manager of web and mobile services in Lehigh Technology Services.

The Lehigh University Mobile App is now the third university mobile application at Lehigh, joining the HawkWatch and Lehigh University Tour offerings.