Jeffrey S. Lehman

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Jeffery Sean Lehman (b. 1956), is an American scholar, lawyer and academic administrator. He is best known for serving as the 11th president of Cornell University from 2003 until 2005. A native of Bronxville, New York, Lehman is a member of the Cornell class of 1977, the first alumnus of that institution to serve as its president.

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[edit] 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 in mathematics. He went on to receive a J.D. and a M.P.P. from the University of Michigan. After receiving his law degree, he served as law clerk for Chief Judge Frank M. Coffin of the United States Court of Appeals for the First Circuit, and later clerked for Associate Justice John 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 at Yale Law School and the University of Paris. Named Dean of Michigan Law in 1994, he received national attention in the 2003 Supreme Court case of Grutter v. Bollinger, defending the law school's affirmative action admissions policies.

[edit] 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 Ithaca environmentalists.

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 Dr David Skorton was named Cornell's 12th president. Skorton, like Rawlings, is a former University 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 of hush money so that the details over his departure would remain secret.

[edit] Post-Presidency Activities

Lehman is currently a senior scholar at the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars in Washington, D.C. Lehman plans to become professor at the Cornell 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.

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Preceded by
Hunter R. Rawlings III		 President of Cornell University
July 1, 2003 – June 30, 2005		 Succeeded by
David J. Skorton
Hunter R. Rawlings III (interim)