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President Alice P. Gast > Photo Gallery > Academic Year 2011-2012

Academic Year 2011 - 2012

At the 2012 opening dinner for the Global Village for Future Leaders of Business and Industry program, President Gast welcomed the 119 program participants from 55 countries.

Despite steady rain, students eagerly crossed the stage to shake hands with President Gast upon the conferring of their degrees during the 2012 commencement exercises.

President Gast congratulates honorary degree recipient Lawrence S. Bacow, former president of Tufts University and President-in-Residence at the Harvard Graduate School of Education, who received the Doctor of Pedagogy.

President Gast processes into Goodman Stadium for the 2012 commencement exercises. She is joined by commencement speaker Ali bin Ibrahim Al-Naimi ’62, the Saudi Arabian Minister of Petroleum and Mineral Resources (left) and Provost Patrick V. Farrell (right).

President Gast addresses the 2012 doctoral degree candidates at the hooding ceremony in Zoellner Arts Center’s Baker Hall.

The Lehigh community gathered outside Coppee Hall on April 26 to dedicate an American elm tree in memory of journalism student and former Brown and White editor-in-chief Debbie Pearsall '12. President Gast, Professor Jack Lule and Matt Breitel '12 (right), multimedia editor of the Brown and White, shared memories of Pearsall during the ceremony.

Lehigh celebrated Earth Day on April 20 as President Gast joined Sudhakar Neti, professor of mechanical engineering and mechanics, and Delicia Nahman, sustainability coordinator, to help plant a tree outside Packer Memorial Church. Gast announced Lehigh's sustainability plan that day, saying, "as a residential community, it is especially important that we use our campus as a 'living laboratory' and innovate and reduce our consumption of resources."

Lehigh held its annual scholarship dinner at SteelStacks, South Side Bethlehem's newest arts venue, where hundreds of donors and students came together to celebrate Lehigh's academic accomplishments. The towering 17-story blast furnace towers served as the evening's backdrop.

President Gast addressed the Lehigh community on March 28 at SteelStacks, just a few blocks from Lehigh's Asa Packer campus. The event was hosted by Provost Pat Farrell and featured mathematics professor Joseph Yukich, scholarship recipient Caroline Bendyk '12, and a performance by the women's choral group Dolce.

This March, President Gast celebrated Lehigh's 33rd Honors Convocation with high-performing juniors and seniors who either achieved a cumulative grade-point average of at least 3.6 or were the recipients of academic accolades.

President Gast shares a few insights about an upcoming egg drop competition with 60 middle school girls. The aspiring engineers took part in Lehigh's Charting Horizons and Opportunities in Careers in Engineering and Science (CHOICES) program, a day-long event that gives girls a first-hand introduction to the fields of engineering and lets them participate in a few exciting scientific experiments.

Corning CEO Wendell Weeks '81 tells a crowded Baker Hall that "innovation is like a really good conversation." President Gast joined the former accounting and finance major onstage for a discussion about how the 160-year-old company continues to stake a position as one of America's most cutting-edge, highly entrepreneurial groundbreakers.

Lehigh students discussed community service opportunities with President Gast during a dinner hosted by the Live.Learn.Serve residential living program at Centennial II. The program allows service-oriented students to live together on a co-ed floor in a traditional residence hall.

At an Asa Packer Society event held at the The New York Times Building this spring, President Gast spent a few minutes discussing education with long-time benefactor Brigitte D. Linz. Lehigh alumni gathered to hear Alex Wiseman, associate professor of comparative and international education, speak on the topic of "Beyond Hype: How U.S. Education Competes Globally."

President Gast and the Rev. Jesse Jackson exchange pleasantries outside of her office. During a special dialogue in which he explored the topic of 21st Century leadership, Rev. Jackson would later tell the Lehigh community, “We’re living in the best America that’s ever existed.”

The Rev. Jesse Jackson discusses his experiences leading his progressive civil rights organization, Rainbow PUSH Coalition, with President Gast in Alumni Memorial Hall. Provost Pat Farrell (left) and James Peterson, director of Africana Studies (right), joined the conversation as well.

Provost Pat Farrell, the Rev. Jesse Jackson, President Alice P. Gast and James Peterson, director of Africana studies, pose for a snapshot on February 13.

Ilyasah Shabazz, the daughter of Malcolm X, shared a few thoughts with President Gast and Joanne Anderson, director of the Office of the President. Shabazz visited Lehigh during its weeklong celebration of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.

During a special two-hour ceremony celebrating the life of the Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. at Zoellner Arts Center, President Gast praised the legacy of the slain civil rights leader, saying, “his words were informed with, as Dr. King himself put it, ‘an abiding faith in America and an audacious faith in the future of mankind.’”

President Gast is joined by her husband, Bradley J. Askins, during the Zoellner Arts Center’s Gala 2011.

Tony Bennett, a 15-time Grammy award winner and 2011 Gala headliner, shares a few words with President Gast before his performance. Susan Crow, Bennett’s wife, is also pictured.

At the Zoellner Arts Center’s Gala 2011, President Gast shares a laugh and catches up with the Vresics family.

President Gast applauds finance major Andrea Lavin ’12 at Packer Memorial Church. Lavin tells a Founder’s Day crowd, “Lehigh has given me—a student who works really hard but is not a valedictorian—the tools and opportunities to go far beyond my boundaries.”

At Packer Memorial Church this past October, President Gast challenged the Lehigh community to find its course during these tumultuous times. She shared her remarks during Lehigh's highly celebrated Founder's Day event. "We are grateful for the leaders we have among us," she says, "and we honor our benefactors and inheritors of our founder's legacy."

President Gast embraces Connie Clery after she delivered an emotional address at the ”Proceeding in Partnership” campus safety summit held at Lehigh University. The event was co-hosted by Security on Campus, the advocacy organization founded by Clery and her husband in memory of their daughter Jeanne Clery.

President Gast speaks at the “Proceeding in Partnership” event on campus safety. The national summit was held on Lehigh’s campus and co-hosted with the advocacy organization Security on Campus, founded by the family of Jeanne Clery.

In late September Bethlehem Mayor John Callahan, President Gast and students from Broughal Middle School dedicated a sculpture and native plantings along the South Bethlehem Greenway. The students helped design the sculpture with Bethlehem artist Virginia Abbott.

President Gast talks with Lee Iacocca ’45, who returned to Lehigh on September 16 to announce the Lee Iacocca International Internship Scholarship Challenge. Iacocca’s challenge grant hopes to raise $10 million in an effort to help students pursue international internships, and gain the skills and experiences needed in today’s global markets.

Lee Iaccoca ’45 and President Gast announce Iacocca’s gift and challenge grant in support of international internships. The Lee Iacocca International Internship program hopes to provide enough support to help 150 students intern overseas each year.

President Gast and Dale S. Strohl ’58 are photographed on Lehigh’s campus. Strohl recently donated $1.1 million to the university to promote student research, including doctoral dissertation fellowships, senior thesis grants and summer research fellowships in the social sciences and humanities.

Lehigh’s 40th anniversary of undergraduate women celebration kicked off with a tailgate party on September 10, where President Gast revved up the crowd for a football game against the University of New Hampshire.

President Gast chats with a Lehigh alumna at a dinner held on September 9, celebrating the university’s 40th anniversary of undergraduate women.

Darsh T. Wasan Lecture attendees ask President Gast questions at the conclusion of her lecture on International Education Today at Illinois Institute of Technology.

Illinois Institute of Technology President John Anderson and President Gast pose for a picture with Darsh T. Wasan, Distinguished Professor, Motorola Professor of Chemical Engineering and Vice President of International Affairs.

President Gast delivers the Darsh T. Wasan lecture at the Illinois Institute of Technology in September.

First-year students who were named merit scholars at Lehigh talk with President Gast at a reception held at the start of the fall semester.

President Gast and her husband, Bradley Askins, mingle with students who attended a morning reception at the President’s house for merit scholars.

President Gast welcomes first-year students to a merit scholar reception at the president’s house.

On a rainy move-in day, President Gast helps first-year students move into their residence halls.

President Gast, students, faculty and staff provided a warm welcome to the Class of 2015 on move-in day.

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