A call from a familiar face

The other day, I discovered that the former President of my alma mater was in Beijing. Yes, that's right; the 11th President of the entire school - Cornell University. It turns out that Jeffrey S. Lehman has developed the first school of its kind here at Peking University: The School of Transnational Law. The first class of students arrive this September and will graduate with the initials "J.D." printed on their ivory diploma parchment. I decided to send him an email to see if he'd meet with me. In a quick ten minutes or so, I got an enthusiastic response and tea time appointment for today!

Jeffrey S. Lehman was a popular President at Cornell. He advocated for an initiative - Call to Engagement - whose aim was to address the 21st century global challenges. These included: life in the age of the genome, wisdom in the age of digital information and sustainability in the age of global development. Lehman had also expanded Cornell's transnational reach to Qatar, China and India.

Alas, he had to tend to some last-minute matters so instead of green tea, he gave me a ring. We ended up having a pleasant conversation on his role as Dean of the school and my future endeavors.

Despite not having met him in-person, I thought it was a very kind gesture on his part to take time to chat with one of the thousands of former graduates of his school. I didn't quite get around to asking him for a free law degree, but turns out his daughter will be attending graduate school at Cal this fall. So, I still may have another chance to meet him, but perhaps it'll be on a school campus on the other side of the Pacific.