The Bucknell Gateway Scholars Program

Bucknell is defined by three exceptional colleges and student-focused faculty who are leaders in teaching, research and innovation. Our distinctive structure — paired with our size and the depth of our academic offerings — sets us apart among liberal arts colleges.

As the University prepares for its spring 2024 review by the Middle States Commission on Higher Education, the determined work of faculty and institutional researchers is on track to prove to our accreditors that we are an effective, forward-thinking institution that delivers a top-tier education.

Our self-assessment will also provide Bucknell with information that can be leveraged to achieve long-range goals and spur new innovations to provide an even more exceptional undergraduate experience.

Research is action. Whether it moves us closer to understanding age-old mysteries or contributes to direct improvements in the life of our community, the work of our faculty and undergraduate researchers informs, effects and creates change. Evidence of that unfolding evolution surrounds Bucknell in the community that is both our home and a rich living laboratory.

On the water: A computer science and engineering double-major from Oley, Pa., Kit Jackson ’25 spent his summer in Bucknell’s Animal Behavior Lab, creating a sensor to track how mussels move and clean the Susquehanna River. Bucknell’s proximity to the river, as well as smaller streams like Bull Run, allows students to gain hands-on technical skills as they conduct a myriad of research projects including the development of filtration systems, pollutant benchmarking, conservation and stream clean-up.

bucknell.edu/KitJackson

On the water: A computer science and engineering double-major from Oley, Pa., Kit Jackson ’25 spent his summer in Bucknell’s Animal Behavior Lab, creating a sensor to track how mussels move and clean the Susquehanna River. Bucknell’s proximity to the river, as well as smaller streams like Bull Run, allows students to gain hands-on technical skills as they conduct a myriad of research projects including the development of filtration systems, pollutant benchmarking, conservation and stream clean-up.

bucknell.edu/KitJackson

Tomorrow’s leaders and innovators are found in Bucknell classrooms today. Through hands-on, project-based learning opportunities, Bucknell faculty — like Professor Sam Gutekunst, the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Assistant Professor of Data Science — help students connect the dots between what they learn in class and the world they inhabit, and put their knowledge to work in making that world better.

Impressed by the initiative Thomas Smith ’23 (left) and Jake Luther ’23 (right) showed in his classroom, Gutekunst invited both computer engineering majors to participate in a research project aimed at helping Bucknell’s Registrar’s Office improve class scheduling. “Jake and Thomas stood out for their incredible intellectual curiosity and potential, so I was elated to get them on a project,” Gutekunst says.

On Oct. 21, 2022, the Bucknell University Board of Trustees unanimously voted to extend President John C. Bravman’s contract through at least 2028. Already among the longest-serving presidents currently leading American universities, Bravman will, by the end of his current contract, have held the third-longest tenure among all Bucknell presidents. Through periods of uncertainty and opportunity, Bravman’s leadership has kept Bucknell focused on its mission and the fulfillment of its long- and short-term strategic goals.

High points of Bravman’s presidency include the passage of the The Plan for Bucknell 2025, the University’s first strategic plan in 13 years; his leadership of the successful efforts to remain open and ensure the continued delivery of in-person instruction during the COVID-19 pandemic; the establishment of the Freeman College of Management as Bucknell’s third college in 2017; the construction of new academic and residential facilities that have transformed the campus and the student living-learning experience; and the completion of Bucknell’s most ambitious fundraising campaign to date, the $500 million WE DO Campaign.

Bravman’s leadership offers a clear, bright and exciting vision for the Bucknell of tomorrow — one that will undoubtedly elevate and further strengthen the University’s well-established position among leaders in higher education.