- Jeffrey S. Lehman
Infobox Scientist
box_width = 250px
name = Jeffrey S. Lehman
image_size = 200px
caption =
birth_date = 1956
birth_place =Bronxville, New York
death_date =
death_place =
residence =
citizenship =
nationality = flag|United States
ethnicity =
fields =Legal studies
workplaces =Cornell University
alma_mater =University of Michigan
doctoral_advisor =
academic_advisors =
doctoral_students =
notable_students =
known_for =
author_abbrev_bot =
author_abbrev_zoo =
influences =
influenced =
awards =
religion =
footnotes =Jeffery Sean Lehman (born 1956), is an American scholar,
lawyer andacademic administrator . He is best known for serving as the 11th president ofCornell University from 2003 until 2005. A native ofBronxville, New York , Lehman is a member of the Cornell class of 1977, the first alumnus of that institution to serve as its president.Before Cornell University presidency
While a student, Lehman was active in the
Alpha Phi Omega fraternity and co-wrote the book "1000 Ways to Win Monopoly Games" on the way to earning his undergraduate degree inmathematics . He went on to receive a J.D. and a M.P.P. from theUniversity of Michigan . After receiving hislaw degree, he served aslaw clerk for Chief Judge Frank M. Coffin of theUnited States Court of Appeals for the First Circuit , and later clerked for Associate JusticeJohn Paul Stevens of the U.S. Supreme Court.After practicing law in
Washington, D.C. , Lehman returned to the University of Michigan in 1987 to serve on the faculty of the law school. He also served as a visiting professor atYale Law School and theUniversity of Paris . Named Dean of Michigan Law in 1994, he received national attention in the 2003 Supreme Court case of "Grutter v. Bollinger ", in which he largely succeeded in defending the law school'saffirmative action admissions policies.President of Cornell University
He was named the 11th president of Cornell University on December 14, 2002 and assumed the duties of that office on July 1, 2003. As president of Cornell, he oversaw effective large-scale fundraising efforts. In 2004, Cornell ranked third in the nation in university fundraising (behind only Harvard and Stanford), raising over US$375 million that year alone. Lehman was also known for prominently promoting his "three themes": "life in the age of the genome," "wisdom in the age of digital information" and "sustainability in the age of development." These themes arose from intensive engagement with faculty, students and Cornellians during his first year, a process that won him great respect across campus. Lehman pioneered the concept of a "transnational" university, by opening a medical campus in Doha, Qatar and cooperative education and research arrangements with universities in China, India and Singapore.
During his tenure, Cornell and Lehman were criticized for plans to build a parking lot in "
Redbud Woods," drawing particular fire from Cornell and Ithacaenvironmentalists .On June 11, 2005, Lehman announced that he would be resigning from the presidency effective June 30, citing irreconcilable differences with the Cornell Board of Trustees—an announcement that came as a surprise to most of the Cornell community and to outsiders. Lehman's tenure was by far the shortest of any Cornell President. Specific reasoning for Lehman's departure has been highly secretive and subject to occasional debate within the Cornell faculty and alumni communities. Upon his departure, Lehman's immediate predecessor,
Hunter Rawlings , reassumed the Cornell Presidency on an interim basis. In Jan, 2006 DrDavid Skorton was named Cornell's 12th president. Skorton, like Rawlings, is a formerUniversity of Iowa president.More than a year after his departure, the
Cornell Daily Sun reported that in his last year of presidency, Lehman received over $1 million in salary and benefits, leading many to believe that Cornell's board of trustees had paid him a large sum ofhush money so that the details over his departure would remain secret.Post-Presidency Activities
Lehman is currently a senior scholar at the
Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars inWashington, D.C. Lehman plans to become professor at theCornell Law School after his work at the Wilson Center. Lehman has also assumed a role as a director of Indian IT firm,Infosys Technologies Limited , whose then-chairman,N. R. Narayana Murthy , had been appointed to the Cornell Board of Trustees during Lehman's tenure as President.School of Transnational Law at Peking University
In 2008 Lehman was named the chancellor and founding dean of the
School of Transnational Law at Peking University 's Shenzhan campus. The school is modeled on the American style of law school, and it is intended that graduates will be able to pass the New Yorkbar exam . [http://www.news.cornell.edu/stories/May08/Lehman.Chinalaw.sl.html]External links
* [http://www.cornell.edu/president/history_bio_lehman.cfm Cornell Presidency: Jeffrey S. Lehman]
*Cornell University Library Presidents Exhibition: Jeffrey Sean Lehman ( [http://rmc.library.cornell.edu/presidents/view_item.php?sec=3&sub=18 Presidency] ; [http://rmc.library.cornell.edu/presidents/view_item.php?sec=4&sub=29 Inauguration] )
* LegalInsight.net audio: [http://www.legalinsight.net/issues/interviews/FlashCornell.html A Conversation with Jeffrey Lehman]
* [http://www.insidehighered.com/news/2005/06/13/cornell Inside Higher Ed: "Sudden Departure at Cornell"]
* [http://www.news.cornell.edu/Chronicle/03/1.16.03/Lehman.html Lehman named Cornell President]
Wikimedia Foundation. 2010.