IUPUI School of Law named after school alumni

A $24 million donation by attorney, banker and civic leader Robert McKinney to the IU-Purdue University Indianapolis School of Law resulted in an important announcement Dec. 1.

IU President Michael McRobbie stood before a small crowd at a press conference to reveal the school’s new name, Robert H. McKinney School of Law.

“This is one of the largest gifts in the history of the school,” McRobbie said at the conference. “And it is one of the largest gifts ever in the history of the University.”

Sporadic bursts of applause interrupted McRobbie’s speech throughout the event, which was streamed online. Audience members offered a standing ovation and snapped photographs with cell phones as McRobbie revealed a large board with “Robert H. McKinney School of Law” emblazoned on it.

“It’s not just the money,” said Gary Roberts, dean of the McKinney School of Law. “It’s the fact that someone who had the ability to make this kind of gift decided that this school has the quality and the potential and that this person had enough confidence in the leadership to know that his investment would be well spent and that this was worth it.”

McKinney’s donation, along with additional funds from the IUPUI IMPACT fundraising campaign, totals $31.5 million.

Roberts said the gift to the school and its renaming will be transformative in nature. The money will allow the school to hire five endowed chairs and fund scholarships for students, he said, and the renaming will enhance the school’s prestige and
reputation.

“We just want to be better at what we do, which is producing lawyers and judges and leaders for our society,” Roberts said. “We think this money and the enhanced prestige and reputation of the school will enable us to do that better.”

McRobbie emphasized these faculty and scholarship additions in his speech. He said McKinney’s generosity will influence and strengthen the law program at IUPUI.

“Along with the school’s existing outstanding faculty, these new positions will enable the school to further strengthen its programs in key strategic areas,” McRobbie said at the conference. “At the same time, it will create a substantial number of McKinney family scholarships that will enable many outstanding law students to attend the McKinney School and hold down the cost of their educations.”

Roberts said the gift agreement was signed Thursday prior to the press conference, and the money will stream into the law school over a period of time.

He also said it is common practice to name a school after a donor when such philanthropic investments are made.

“This kind of gift just changes everything,” Roberts said.