Cornell Celebrates a New Beginning

Lehman to be inaugurated on three campuses around the globe

Jeffrey Sean Lehman

Jeffrey S. Lehman will be inaugurated as president of Cornell University in ceremonies on three Cornell campuses on two continents, Oct. 12-16. The events will feature remarks and lectures by the Sheikha of Qatar, national AIDS research leader Anthony Fauci, Pritzker Prize-winning architect Richard Meier and Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg.

"Cornell Celebrates a New Beginning" is the theme of the inauguration, in which Lehman, 47, will challenge higher education to provide fresh leadership in areas that are critical to the well-being of all humanity.

Cornell's selection of its youthful new president has drawn high praise from across the world of higher education. A highly regarded legal scholar, Lehman was named a "rising star" by the National Law Journal when he was named dean of the University of Michigan Law School nine years ago. The philosopher Martha Nussbaum has written about his bold commitment to a transnational vision of education, and he drew national media attention as a spokesperson in defense of the University of Michigan Law School's moderate approach to affirmative action in admissions. The Supreme Court's opinion affirming that policy, in Grutter v. Bollinger, is considered to be one of the most important decisions in the history of higher education. The NAACP Legal Defense Fund will honor Lehman for his role in the case on Nov. 6.

Inauguration events in Qatar will mark an important milestone -- the ribbon-cutting for the official opening of Weill Cornell Medical College's new campus in Doha's Education City. The first branch of an American medical school ever established overseas, Weill Cornell Medical College in Qatar played a central role in the development of Education City, a vast complex of educational facilities, from preschool to graduate studies, that provides leadership in education in the Middle East.

Lehman, whose term as president began July 1, will present an address at the ribbon-cutting ceremonies Oct. 12 at 10 a.m. Also participating will be Her Highness Sheikha Mouzah bint Nasser Al-Missned; Sanford I. Weill, CEO of Citigroup and chair of the Weill Cornell Medical College's Board of Overseers; and Peter C. Meinig, chair of the Cornell Board of Trustees, as well as other officials. On Oct. 13, a panel discussion on the role of women in Qatar will be followed at 4 p.m. by the official launch of Education City by Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa Al Thani, in a ceremony that will feature Lehman's participation.

New York City inaugural events will take place Wednesday, Oct. 15. The day will include a private luncheon with other leading university presidents, as well as more public events. It will feature an inauguration address at the Weill Cornell Medical College by Lehman and a lecture by Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, on "Emerging and Re-emerging Diseases of the 21st Century" at 9 a.m. Lehman will visit a site at 531 Amsterdam Ave. at 2 p.m. with New York City Councilwoman Gale Brewer. Brewer has supported a neighborhood tree preservation and replacement project catalyzed by a tree survey by Cornell undergraduate Jennifer Hoos. (Read related story.) Lehman will speak about Cornell's continuing engagement and connection with the city through many programs, including Cornell Cooperative Extension and undergraduate, graduate and professional education.

Ginsburg

The week will culminate with events on Cornell's historic Ithaca campus Thursday, Oct. 16. Following an academic procession from the university's Arts Quad to Barton Hall, U.S. Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, a 1954 Cornell graduate, will deliver approximately 20 minutes of remarks and Lehman will deliver his formal inaugural address in an installation ceremony that begins at 2 p.m.

Earlier in the day, Lehman will have a conversation with Ithaca-area community leaders at 9 a.m. in the Tompkins County Public Library. (Ezra Cornell, the university's founder, established the city's first public library.) Academic lectures will be presented at 10 a.m. during three concurrent symposia on campus.
(Read related stories: On the symposia; on the trip to the public library; and on the Cornell Library exhibits.)

Inaugural events, Oct. 16, will conclude with an evening of Cornell student entertainment at Barton Hall, "Ezra & Andy's Excellent BIG RED Adventure," beginning at 7 p.m.

Lehman is the first Cornell alumnus to serve as president of the university, having earned his bachelor's degree from Cornell in 1977. A native New Yorker, Lehman was born in Bronxville and grew up in White Plains and Bethesda, Md. As an undergraduate, he majored in mathematics and graduated with distinction in all subjects. He earned two advanced degrees at the University of Michigan: a J.D. from the Law School, where he was editor-in-chief of the Michigan Law Review, and a master's in public policy from the Institute of Public Policy Studies.

Lehman served as law clerk to Chief Judge Frank M. Coffin of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the First Circuit and to Associate Justice John Paul Stevens of the U.S. Supreme Court. He practiced tax law with the Washington, D.C., law firm of Caplin & Drysdale. He joined the faculty of the University of Michigan Law School in 1987 and has been a visiting professor at the Yale Law School and the University of Paris. He was president of the American Law Deans Association from 2001 to 2003.

Inauguration events in Ithaca, Thursday, Oct. 16

8:30 a.m.: Meeting with community leaders at Tompkins County Public Library.
To highlight the historic and continuing connection between Cornell and the Ithaca community, President Jeffrey Lehman's day will begin with a tour of the library and a conversation with community leaders.

10 a.m.: Three distinguished inaugural lectures offered concurrently on campus: