The law library at Duquesne University is being renamed for the university president and former dean of its law school, Ken Gormley.
Campus officials on Monday said the name change was requested by renowned trial attorney and Duquesne law school alumnus Thomas R. Kline, who in September 2022 made a $50 million gift to what is now Duquesne’s Thomas R. Kline School of Law.
Kline made an additional $3 million commitment earlier this year to the first phase of the law building renovation, which includes a re-imagined entrance and vestibule on the same floor. It was dedicated in April 2024.
Kline asked that the university commit to renovating the student lounge and rename the law library with improvements to that space.
“Scholarship has been central to Ken’s personal work, and he made it a focus of his effort to revitalize the school when he took over as dean,” Kline said in a new release. “Ken’s focus on academic quality helped him move the school to national visibility and I wanted to honor and recognize that as part of my gift.”
The second phase of the law school building renovation, which began in June, will include a new student lounge with comfortable seating, a stone fireplace and an updated grab-and-go food market with extended hours, university officials said. The lounge is expected to be finished before the fall semester, and the library work is expected to be completed before fall 2025.
Gormley is a nationally known constitutional scholar and author, who served eight years as law dean starting in 2008. He was installed as president in July 2016.
He said Kline’s gift toward the renovations are an investment in Duquesne’s law students.
“I’m honored, of course, that Tom chose to make such a generous statement about the work I and so many others have done to advance the school,” said Gormley. “But I’m most excited about what this means for our Duquesne Kline Law students.”
The renovated space will include a display about Gormley’s scholarly work as well as highlights of current faculty scholarship.
Bill Schackner is a TribLive reporter covering higher education. Raised in New England, he joined the Trib in 2022 after 29 years at the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, where he was part of a Pulitzer Prize-winning team. Previously, he has written for newspapers in Connecticut, New York, Pennsylvania and Rhode Island. He can be reached at bschackner@triblive.com.