Texas A&M School of Law Dean Robert B. Ahdieh recently received Downtown Fort Worth, Inc.‘s Innovation Trailblazer Award for his role in helping to inspire and encourage the creation of Texas A&M - Fort Worth, a several hundred-million dollar research and innovation campus. Construction will begin in June and comes at a key moment in the trajectory of law school.
Ahdieh received the award during Downtown Fort Worth, Inc.’s Annual Meeting in April, which recognized contributions made by community leaders in advancing the future of Downtown Fort Worth. The Trailblazer Award program is part of an ongoing effort to reinforce and recognize Fort Worth’s culture of excellence in planning, execution, vision, and leadership.
“It takes vision for something this big to happen,” said Ahdieh, who serves as Vice President for Professional Schools & Programs at Texas A&M University, in addition to his service as Dean of the School of Law. “It requires a City and County leadership, as well as business and philanthropic community, that is ready to embrace a bold vision of where our community can go.”
Downtown Fort Worth, Inc. (DFWI) also honored John Goff with the Ambassador Trailblazer Award. Goff, who is CEO of Crescent Real Estate and president of Fort Worth-based Goff Capital Inc., was a key player in rallying civic and business leaders to support the creation of Texas A&M - Fort Worth. When the idea first began to percolate, Goff and Ahdieh met periodically to discuss how a more substantial Texas A&M presence could serve Fort Worth and North Texas more broadly.
The resulting vision was a state-of-the-art campus with the law school serving as its academic anchor. The three-building complex will eventually provide facilities for a diverse range of programs offered by Texas A&M University System schools and agencies, as well as spaces for private industry partners looking to collaborate with Texas A&M in research and development, student-to-employee pipeline programs, and workforce training initiative –in areas including engineering, health, defense, agriculture, technology, and more.
“Great ideas flourish in many minds but all too rarely take root in the real world. Complex, long-haul ideas that require the belief of others are the rarest kind because they require exhaustive tending,” said Andy Taft, DFWI President. “Dean Ahdieh’s DFWI Trailblazer Award recognizes his steadfast belief in the importance of Texas A&M’s expansion in Fort Worth and the tenacity, advocacy, and diplomacy required to make that great idea reality.”
The Texas A&M – Fort Worth groundbreaking will be held at the current site of the law school, on Wednesday, June 21.