Leebron to receive Asia Society Texas Center’s top honor

Rice University President David Leebron will receive the 2015 Roy M. Huffington Award for Contributions to International Understanding – the highest honor given by Asia Society Texas Center.

The award recognizes an individual who has been a major force on the international stage. It is named for the late Houston oilman and former U.S. ambassador to Austria who played a leading role in creating Asia Society Texas Center, which promotes mutual understanding and strengthens partnerships among the people, leaders and institutions of Asia and the Houston area through innovative programs in arts and culture, business and policy, education and community outreach.

In its announcement of Leebron as this year’s honoree, Asia Society Texas Center noted that Leebron has served as Rice’s seventh president since 2004 and has written a textbook on international human rights. He has been presented with France’s Commandeur de l’Ordre national du Mérite and has received an honorary doctorate from Nankai University. Leebron and his wife, University Representative Y. Ping Sun, were selected by the Greater Houston Partnership in 2010 as the city’s International Executives of the Year for helping make Houston a center of international business.

Among the previous recipients of the Huffington Award are former President and First Lady George and Barbara Bush, former Houston Mayor Bill White and the late Robert Mosbacher Sr., former U.S. secretary of commerce.

The 2015 Huffington Award Luncheon will be held at noon Nov. 4 at the Hilton Americas Houston, 1600 Lamar St. For information on tickets, visit http://asiasociety.org/texas/huffington2015.