The Texas A&M University School of Law received a $1 million gift from Tony Buzbee, according to The Star-Telegram.
The school, in downtown Fort Worth, is not yet a year old. Buzbee is a regent in the Texas A&M System and is the founding partner of The Buzbee Law Firm
“What I’m hoping to do is encourage other Aggies to give money to the law school because we are going to need a healthy endowment for all the things we want to do,” Buzbee said.
The gift is going to create the first endowed faculty chair at the school. It is going to be named the Anthony G. Buzbee Dean’s Endowed Chair. The incoming dean of the school will use the funds to invest in new faculty members and academic programs.
Buzbee earned an undergraduate degree in psychology from Texas A&M and then a law degree from the University of Houston Law Center. He said the law school has a disadvantage because it is so young.
“But there are a lot of Aggies in Texas, we are getting a new dean, and this will be a good start for our new dean and set an example for a lot of other Aggie lawyers out there to give some money,” he said.
The Texas Wesleyan School of Law was purchased by the Texas A&M System for $73 million on August 12.
“We just acquired the law school. We just branded it,” Buzbee said. “We wanted the law school for a long time, and after we acquired it our applications went up 40 percent.”
Buzbee said the next step is for the school to secure a national ranking and then become a top school in Texas within the next five years.
“I think you are going to see some unique things,” Buzbee said. “We will probably see a several-fold increase in applications the next time around.”
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