News

An experienced leader with significant expertise in international higher education, internships and applied research will be taking on a senior leadership role at the Lee Iacocca Institute for Global Leadership.

Leah Mason has accepted the position of Deputy Director & Director of International Internships at the Institute. She joins Lehigh University from the Institute of International Education (IIE), where she served for 15 years in various leadership roles.

“I am excited to bring my passion for research and experiential learning to Lehigh, and to help shape opportunities that prepare students for leadership in a global context, Mason said. “Joining the Lee Iacocca Institute for Global Leadership is an incredible opportunity to combine my background in international education with my commitment to student success.”

Mason will play a key role in the Institute’s continuing and evolving mission to deliver superior experiential learning opportunities and to serve as a thought leader in global leadership education, according to Scott Koerwer, Executive Director of the Lee Iacocca Institute for Global Leadership.

“Leah brings both deep expertise and fresh perspective that will strengthen our ability to provide innovative, high-impact learning experiences for students,” Koerwer said. “Her background in international education and research positions her to help the Institute lead important conversations about the future of global leadership development programming.”

Mason most recently served as Deputy Director of Research,Evaluation, and Learning at IIE, where she oversaw research and evaluation projects on global mobility, international education, and career readiness for government, corporate, and foundation clients.

In her new role at the Iacocca Institute, Mason will help shape and implement the strategic vision for the Institute’s programming. She will also provide strategic leadership for the Iacocca International Internship Program, which has provided high-quality summer internships across five dozen countries for nearly 900 students since its launch in 2011.

Mason said internships can be reimagined to reflect the realities of the modern workplace. She noted that “work to learn” experiences should address emerging areas such as the role of artificial intelligence, while also broadening the scope of internships to include diverse pathways that develop both professional competencies and global leadership skills.

“I look forward to enhancing the Institute’s internship programming through a ‘work to learn’ lens, ensuring these experiences help prepare Lehigh students for the evolving demands of career readiness,” Mason said. “By innovating how internships foster global leadership skills, we can expand opportunities that connect students to the skills and perspectives needed in today’s world while developing an understanding of the social systems and structures we interact within across borders and cultures.”

Mason will also help expand the Institute’s global reach by building and maintaining partnerships with international organizations, businesses, and academic institutions. These relationships will serve as a foundation for creating and sustaining impactful programs and internships that enhance students’ global leadership development.

During her time at IIE, Mason provided project management leadership to design and implement more than 30 key research projects annually in international student mobility and international education. This included IIE’ signature student mobility research, the Open Doors report on international educational exchange which has documented the flows of students and scholars to and from the United States for more than 75 years, and Project Atlas, a global research initiative that disseminates comparable student mobility data. She has led federally funded research projects, Graduate Learning Overseas and Global Workforce Pathways, which contributed to the dialogue on internationalization at U.S. higher education institutions. Mason also led two global research consortia working with national agencies and higher education institutions in more than 20 countries to document the landscape of internationalization activities.

Mason is experienced in the classroom, serving as an Adjunct Lecturer at Georgetown University since 2019, teaching graduate students in higher education administration and undergraduate students in education, inquiry, and justice. She has also been a Capstone Advisor at the university, mentoring students in the Master of Professional Studies in higher education administration program.

Mason earned a doctorate in education from Teachers College, Columbia University, in 2011, and a master’s degree in education in 2006.

An accomplished author in the field of international education, Mason has more than 30 publications including Weaving Journeys of Social Change and Impact: Ford Foundation International Fellowships Program and Standing Out in a Competitive Market: The Impact of Global Internships on Career Readiness.

She also penned a chapter, “Student Mobility During Disruption: The Resilience and Redefinition of Student Mobility During the COVID-19 Pandemic,” which was featured in the edited volume Internationalization and Imprints of the Pandemic on Higher Education Worldwide, among others.

During her time at IIE, she promoted research and publications to stakeholders at leading global conferences such as the annual NAFSA International Education conference. She was also an invited speaker at the Annual Colloquium on International Engineering Education and the Qatar Foundation International Oxford Research Forum.