ngineer
May 12th, 2006, 11:28 PM
Lehigh named their new president who will take office August 1. She is Alice Gast, currently VP and provost in charge of research at MIT. While her credentials are phenomenal, we who frequent this Board will now wonder what her views on athletics will be and how this will impact/influence the debate over expanding scholarships to football in the Patriot League...LFN raises this issue on his Blog.
I do recall that Lehigh's current president, Gregory Farrington, came to LU from U of Penn having lead their research and technical schools without ever being interested in Penn's athletics. Once he got to Lehigh he became fully engaged and was won over by the atmosphere and camraderie experienced at the football games and other sports. He became a regular at tailgates and will be staying on as an 'emeritus' professor for special research projects, etc. So, regardless of Gast's apparent lack of athletic involvement (though she says she's an avid runner), I don't anticipate any major changes in direction at Lehigh and would expect significant deference to Dean Sterrett.
I do recall that Lehigh's current president, Gregory Farrington, came to LU from U of Penn having lead their research and technical schools without ever being interested in Penn's athletics. Once he got to Lehigh he became fully engaged and was won over by the atmosphere and camraderie experienced at the football games and other sports. He became a regular at tailgates and will be staying on as an 'emeritus' professor for special research projects, etc. So, regardless of Gast's apparent lack of athletic involvement (though she says she's an avid runner), I don't anticipate any major changes in direction at Lehigh and would expect significant deference to Dean Sterrett.