Arts | Jun. 22, 2026
A Course in Disaster
Just days into last fall’s semester, a group of Lehigh University students boarded a plane for rural Oregon, where they would spend several days in a hands-on disaster response simulation. The trip marked the beginning of a sponsored capstone course in Lehigh's Department of Art, Architecture and Design (AAD), created in partnership with ShelterBox USA, the U.S.-based arm of the international disaster relief organization. For the students, it was an abrupt shift from the studio and a first look at how humanitarian responders assess communities after disaster.