Rice University President David W. Leebron Inauguration records

For each incoming Rice president, an Inaugural Committee is formed which works with the Board of Governors and the President's Office to plan the numerous presidential welcoming events and celebrations. After the inauguration, the committee is released from duty. David W. Leebron took office as Rice University’s seventh president on July 1, 2004. On Saturday, October 2, 2004, he was officially inaugurated into that post. Due to inclement weather conditions and heat and humidity, the inaugural proceedings were held at 9:30 a.m. in the Rice Gymnasium, Autry Court. The inaugural dinner was held at the Warwick Hotel. The Rice Concert Band, the Rice Chorale, the Shepherd School Brass Ensemble, and Melody Johnson, a Shepherd School soprano, provided the music for the occasion. Arthur Gottschalk, chair of composition and theory with the Shepherd School of Music, composed a special fanfare for the inauguration ceremony. More than 200 delegates representing universities and learned societies from around the world attended the inauguration, as did such distinguished guests as the consuls of Jordan, Ukraine, and Saudi Arabia; Ambassador Edward Djerejian; and Congresswoman Sheila Jackson Lee.

David Leebron was born in 1956 in Philadelphia. He earned a bachelor of art’s degree (1976) and doctorate of jurisprudence (1979) from Harvard University. After college Leebron clerked at the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals and taught at the UCLA School of Law and New York University. From 1981 to 1983, he practiced privately with the New York law firm of Cleary, Gottlieb, Steen & Hamilton. In 1989 Leebron joined the faculty of the Columbia Law School. He later became the Lucy G. Moses Professor of Law and dean of the law school, a position he remained in until his selection as Rice’s president. Leebron is married to Y. Ping Sun. They have two children.