FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

MANHATTAN COLLEGE HONORED KINGS PARK, NEW YORK, RESIDENT VALENTINE A. LEHR ’62 AT ANNUAL ACADEMIC EVENT

RIVERDALE, N.Y. – Manhattan College recently presented alumnus and trustee Valentine A. Lehr ’62 with an honorary Doctor of Humane Letters degree at this year’s Fall Honors Convocation. The event was held Sunday, October 17 on campus in the College’s Chapel of De La Salle and His Brothers. During the ceremony, some 70 seniors were inducted into prestigious Epsilon Sigma Pi, the oldest college-wide honor society on campus.

Epsilon Sigma Pi recognizes seniors who have earned at least a 3.5 grade point average (on a 4.0 scale) for six consecutive semesters with no academic failures.

In his acceptance speech, Mr. Lehr, an internationally known engineer and lecturer, said that while things have evolved and progressed at the College, some things remain unchanged. The spirit of the people and the students, he said, along with the ambiance of the College and the relationships between students and teachers have, fortunately, stayed the same. “The continued interest in values and principles (of the College) is as strong as it was a half century ago,” he said. “Most importantly, the aspirations of the student” remain the same, continuing Manhattan’s legacy of success.

Mr. Lehr, who joined the College’s board of trustees in 1989, is the founding partner of Lehr Associates, a diversified civil engineering group. He provides direction in the technical concepts for Lehr Associates’ major engineering assignments. He maintains key client contacts and monitors the development of projects from concept through occupancy. As a board member, Mr. Lehr co-chaired the facilities committee, and from 1993 to 1995, became chairman of the committee. Simultaneously, he sat on the executive committee, became vice chair of the board of trustees and chaired the strategic planning committee.

Along with Mr. Lehr, who graduated from the College in 1962 with a bachelor’s degree in civil engineering, four additional trustee members were honored for their years of dedicated service to Manhattan. Michael F. Bette ’59, George F. Knapp ’53, John P. Lawler ’55 and John L. Paluszek ’55 also were awarded honorary Doctor of Humane Letters degrees at the Fall Honors Convocation.

Manhattan College was founded in 1853 in the Lasallian heritage of excellence in teaching inspired by the Christian Brothers. The College is an independent, Catholic, coeducational institution of higher learning offering more than 40 major programs of study in the area of the arts, business, education, engineering and science. For more information, visit www.manhattan.edu.

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