Alice Gast

Alice Petry Gast (born May 25, 1958) is the 13th President of Lehigh University in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania. She is Lehigh's first female president. [http://www3.lehigh.edu/News/news_story.asp?iNewsID=1769 "MIT’s Alice Gast named Lehigh president"] ]

Born in Houston, Texas, Gast graduated as valedictorian from the University of Southern California in 1980 with a B.Sc. in chemical engineering. She completed her postgraduate work at Princeton University, receiving a M.A. (1981) and Ph.D. (1984) in chemical engineering. From 1985 to 2001 she taught at Stanford University, and then moved to the Massachusetts Institute of Technology where she served as the Vice President for Research and Associate Provost until her appointment to Lehigh in 2006.

Gast is a member of the National Academy of Engineering, the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, and the American Association for the Advancement of Science. She is married to Bradley J. Askins, a computer scientist. They have two children, Rebecca and David.

Gast is not the first Lehigh President recruited from MIT. In 1895 they invited Thomas Messinger Drown to take the Presidency, for whom Drown Hall is named.

Criticisms

Alice Gast has been criticized for speaking about environmental change, but failing to make any meaningful changes on the Lehigh Campus. [ [http://media.www.thebrownandwhite.com/media/storage/paper1233/news/2008/02/05/Opinion/Column.Gast.Lacks.The.Guts-3186228.shtml Gast Lacks the Guts, The Brown and White] ]

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