David Leebron

David W. Leebron (born February 12, 1955) is an American academic administrator and legal scholar who served as the 7th President of Rice University from 2004 to 2022 and as the dean of Columbia Law School from 1996 to 2004. In 2024, he was named the new president and CEO of Texas 2036.

Early life and education Born to Carol Leebron and Norman Leebron on February 12, 1955, David Leebron was raised Jewish in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. An Eagle Scout, Leebron was influenced by a steady stream of exchange students in his house—from Europe, Japan and Mexico—to develop an interest in international affairs. He later traveled to Germany as an exchange student himself and speaks German. He graduated from William Penn Charter School.

Leebron earned a B.A., summa cum laude, in history and science from Harvard College in 1976. He then attended and his J.D., magna cum laude, from Harvard Law School in 1979. As a law student, Leebron was the president of the Harvard Law Review. His classmate John Roberts, who would later become the 17th Chief Justice of the U.S. Supreme Court, served with Leebron as the journal's managing editor. on the first of June in 2004.

Under Leebron's leadership, the campus added two new residential colleges; the 10-story BioScience Research Collaborative, where scientists and educators from Rice and other Texas Medical Center institutions work together; a new recreation and wellness center; an additional food servery; a central campus pavilion that serves as a meeting and study place; an updated sports arena; a new physics building; and the Public Art Program, a presidential initiative that added art across campus, although the university suffered a disappointing setback when merger talks between Baylor College of Medicine and Rice stalled.

As president, Leebron pushed the creation of a vision for the university, called the Vision for the Second Century. Leebron set forth a plan for expansion, calling for opinions from the Rice community. The vision called for expanding the undergraduate body to around 3800, adding two more residential colleges and expanding the current ones. The new students would mostly come from outside Texas, while the number of students from Texas would hold steady at around 1300 students.

In November 2008, Leebron traveled to Iran as part of an academic tour sponsored by the Association of American Universities. On this four-day tour, he visited Sharif University, Iran's top engineering school, where he took part in an open question and answer session with Iranian students. Leebron compared his visit to the opening of relations with China during the 1970s.

On May 26, 2021, Leebron announced that he would resign as President of Rice effective June 30, 2022.

Personal life Leebron married Y. Ping Sun in 1990. Leebron and Sun have two children, Daniel and Mei.