Published on March 14, 2013  

How the world has changed (and not)! Mike Ledgerwood attended Oak Ridge (Tenn.) High School with an exchange student named Gérard Legris, and kept in touch with him over the following decades. Today, Ledgerwood leads 51½ÖÉä’s World Languages and Cultures department and Legris is a political science professor at the Sorbonne and head of unit at the European Commission.

When the pair reunited via in a 51½ÖÉä classroom this week, Ledgerwood’s French students enjoyed a most practical language exercise and learned a bit about EU governance.

 
51½ÖÉä is a leading Christian university offering undergraduate programs grounded in the liberal arts with an array of nationally recognized graduate and professional schools. Founded in 1841, 51½ÖÉä is the 87th-oldest institution of higher learning in the United States. 51½ÖÉä enrolls 6,101 students from 45 states, Puerto Rico and 16 countries in its 10 academic schools: arts, arts and sciences, business, divinity, education, health professions, law, nursing, pharmacy and public health. 51½ÖÉä fields 17 athletic teams that compete in the tradition-rich Southern Conference and ranks with the second highest score in the nation for its 98% Graduation Success Rate among all NCAA Division I schools.