The University of Kentucky announced an historic $20 million gift to its College of Law, the third largest single donation in university history, from UK College of Law graduate J. David Rosenberg and his wife, Dianne. The gift will further strengthen the academic excellence of the university’s College of Law by supporting scholarships for outstanding students and efforts to recruit and retain world-class faculty.
Mark Cornelison | UK Photo
President Eli Capilouto (left) and Mary Davis, interim dean of UK Law, joined Rosenberg on stage for the announcement.
“There is a saying that ‘education is an unfinished symphony,’” Rosenberg said in announcing the gift. “We make music to stir hearts and minds, to force us to remember, and compel us to commit to each other and to ideas larger than ourselves. We invest in education—to honor those upon whose shoulders we stand who made our success possible, but also as an investment of faith in the future, the idea that what these students will compose and create as lawyers and leaders—ideas, laws and public policy—will deepen not only our understanding of the law, but how our society can be more just.”
UK President Eli Capilouto will recommend to the University Senate and Board of Trustees that the College of Law be named the University of Kentucky J. David Rosenberg College of Law, according to a release on the gift announcement. It would be UK’s third named college, in addition to the Gatton College of Business and Economics and the Lewis Honors College.
The UK College of Law is housed in a recently renovated $53 million facility, which is scheduled to be formally dedicated in November.
In making this gift, Rosenberg cited the university’s established record of intellectual and educational excellence in preparing students for careers in the law and public service. His endowment will focus on scholarship opportunities for future generations of UK law students and faculty support as the college seeks to retain and recruit outstanding legal scholars.
Rosenberg is a senior partner in the Cincinnati firm of Keating, Muething & Klekamp, where he has practiced since 1974. He is a 1971 Cum Laude graduate of the University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton School and a 1973 graduate of the UK College of Law.