Pace University renames law school after environmentalist

Pace University’s law school is now the Elisabeth Haub School of Law, the school announced Thursday.

The name is in recognition of a long relationship between the school and the Haub family, including a recent donation that the school says is the largest in Pace history. The school, at the family’s request, is not disclosing the amount of the donation. The Wall Street Journal reports that it is “comparable” to recent donations made to law schools at George Mason University and Villanova University between $25 million and $30 million.

The law school is located on Pace’s White Plains campus and offers degrees in environmental and international law.

In a press release announcing the new name, the school described Haub as a “tireless environmental advocate and philanthropist.”

The donation will be used to establish an endowment for the law school, expand the school’s top-ranked environmental law program and fund research initiatives. The school did not disclose how much the Haub family donated.

The gift comes from the family of Elisabeth Haub, who died in 1977. The Haub family owns the Tengelmann Group, a German retail holding company.

Pace’s partnership with the family, through the Elisabeth Haub Foundations for Environmental Law and Policy, dates back to 1997, when the school established an annual award in her name recognizing diplomatic achievement.

The Elisabeth Haub School of Law is just the second law school to be named after a woman. The Sandra Day O’Connor College of Law at Arizona State University was the first.