GORBACHEV - The President - Lafayette College

Address by Mikhail GorbachevLafayette College, Oct. 19, 2011Introductory Remarks by PRESiDENT DANiel H. WeiSSGood evening. It is my special pleasure, as Lafayette’s president, to welcome you to thiscelebration of the Oechsle Center for Global Education.Grossman House is being made possible through the generosity of trustee RichardGrossman ’64 and his wife, Rissa. Richard is with us this evening, and I would like to askhim to stand and be recognized for the important contribution he and Rissa have madeto global education on campus.Lafayette’s vision for global education will of course be most fully realizedthrough the creation of the Oechsle Center, which will provide a dynamic and fullyI cannot think of a more fitting way in which to mark the creation of this vibrant newacademic hub on our campus than with an address by the distinguished global leaderwho will present the Center’s inaugural lecture.collaborative learning environment that builds on the College’s existing strengths. Tobe located at a major campus gateway — directly across McCartney Street from WatsonCourts — the Center will feature state-of-the-art instructional facilities, formal andinformal meeting spaces, and offices for faculty members whose teaching and researchWe have invited such a renowned international figure to address us tonight becausewhat he has to say is enormously important. But Mr. Gorbachev also is here because heinterests advance the Center’s interdisciplinary mission. The Center is now in the earlydesign phase, with construction to begin during the coming academic year.exemplifies the type of visionary, transformative leadership which we hope the OechsleCenter for Global Education will inspire — and prepare — our students to emulate asthey engage with the world throughout their own lives and careers. Interdisciplinary inits orientation and innovative in its approach to learning and to global citizenship andservice, the Oechsle Center will enable us to globalize the curriculum and add a globalperspective to the educational experience of every Lafayette undergraduate.Our vision for this facility would have remained only a dream without the devotedinvolvement of two remarkable individuals, Walter and Christa Oechsle. Both are nativesof Germany who graduated from American colleges: Christa is an alumna of Hofstra andWalter is a member of Lafayette’s Class of 1957. Walter majored in history here, studiedphilosophy at the University of Pennsylvania, and earned an MBA in finance fromNew York University. The founder of Oechsle International Advisors and a leadingLast year, our faculty took a significant step toward achieving these goals with thecreation of a new international affairs major to engage students more deeply withauthority on international money management, he understands well why a globalperspective is absolutely fundamental to our graduates’ success in the 21st century.specific geographic regions and thematic issues. We also appointed the first professorto be based entirely in that interdisciplinary program.The Oechsle Center for Global Education is not Walter and Christa’s first major giftto Lafayette. They have endowed one of our largest scholarships, a fund that providesNext fall, a residence hall expressly designed to provide a supportive living-and-learningenvironment for students interested in global topics will welcome its first occupants.financial aid to international students. They also enabled the College to convert AlumniMemorial Gymnasium into Oechsle Hall, a new home for two of Lafayette’s programsin the sciences.2425