Richard Richman Gives $10 Million for Business, Law, Public Policy Center

Richard Richman Gives $10 Million for Business, Law, Public Policy Center

The Interdisciplinary Academic Center Will Be Jointly Administered by Columbia Business School and Columbia Law School

Two New Professorships Will Also Be Established

Contact:    Columbia Law School Public Affairs:                  212-854-2650
                   Columbia Business School Media Relations:  212-854-5955
 

New York, Jan. 24, 2011—Columbia University has received a $10 million gift to establish the Richard Paul Richman Center for Business, Law, and Public Policy, an interdisciplinary academic center that will be jointly administered by Columbia Business School and Columbia Law School.

The grant has been awarded by the Richard Paul and Ellen S. Richman Private Family Foundation. Richard Richman, a graduate of both Columbia Law School (’72) and Columbia Business School (’73), is chairman of The Richman Group, one of the largest owners and developers of rental housing in the nation. He serves on the Dean’s Council at the Law School and is a member of the Business School’s Board of Overseers.

The new center will encourage collaboration among Columbia’s most prominent business and legal scholars to generate research that will inform public policy and help to unite scholarship with its real-world applications in both business and law. The Richman Center will also provide a platform for the promotion of dialogue and the exchange of ideas on timely and relevant issues, while inspiring future generations of students to pursue careers at the nexus of business, law, and public policy.

Richard Richman explained his motivation in establishing the center. “The complex challenges in public policy need to be informed by the pragmatic perspectives of both business and law. Columbia’s intellectual capital in these two disciplines is unparalleled and represents a powerful tool to address today’s problems as well as lay the foundation for a well-planned future.”

“The vision and generosity of the Richman family will have a lasting impact on Columbia and on the worlds of business and law,” said University President Lee C. Bollinger. “There is no finer example of the interdisciplinary collaboration emerging on our campuses than the new center established through this gift. Columbia’s accomplished faculty at the both the Business School and the Law School share a commitment to addressing the complex challenges found at the intersection of their disciplines, and the Richman Center will undoubtedly be a valuable source of innovative scholarship and real-world solutions in the years ahead.”
 
To support this mission, the Richman Foundation will also fund two new professorships—one at each school— the Richard Paul Richman Professorship of Law and the Richard Paul Richman Professorship of Business. The professors honored with these chairs will conduct innovative curricular and research initiatives in business, law, and public policy. The Richard Paul Richman Professorship of Law will be established with a matching gift from the H. F. Lenfest Professorship Match, and the Richard Paul Richman Professorship of Business will be established with a matching gift from the Arthur J. Samberg Faculty Development Fund. 

“This generous gift will allow the Law and Business Schools to work together to bring their expertise to bear on some of the most pressing problems of our time,” said David M. Schizer, dean and the Lucy G. Moses Professor of Law at Columbia Law School. “The result will be valuable public policy initiatives and also unparalleled educational opportunities for our students.”

Faculty members at Columbia Law School and Columbia Business School have collaborated on research and policy recommendations in the past. For example, Chris Mayer, senior vice dean and the Paul Milstein Professor of Real Estate at Columbia Business School, Edward Morrison, the Harvey R. Miller Professor of Law and Economics at Columbia Law School, and Tomasz Piskorski, assistant professor of finance and economics at the Business School, released a proposal for loan modifications in 2009.

“Columbia Business School faculty members frequently play important roles in policy discussions in areas of utmost importance to our economy, including housing, monetary policy, and economic stimulus,” said Glenn Hubbard, dean and the Russell L. Carson Professor of Finance and Economics at Columbia Business School. “Our student body learns to be keenly aware of the role that policy plays in the economic health of various markets. The Richman Center will provide even more opportunities for Columbia Business School to help form the policies that generate the business opportunities of tomorrow.”

In order to ensure the Richman Center’s ongoing presence at Columbia University, the endowment will be used to underwrite administrative, personnel, marketing, and publication costs. A portion of the gift will ensure the launch of activities at the center, which will include, but not be limited to, curriculum development, the funding of faculty research projects, and extracurricular programming such as panel discussions and academic or industry conferences.

About Columbia Business School
Led by Dean Glenn Hubbard, the Russell L. Carson Professor of Finance and Economics, Columbia Business School is at the forefront of management education. The School’s cutting-edge curriculum bridges academic theory and practice, equipping students with an entrepreneurial mindset to recognize and capture opportunity in a competitive business arena. Beyond academic rigor and teaching excellence, the School offers programs that are designed to give students practical experience, preparing them for leadership in real-world environments. The School offers MBA and Executive MBA (EMBA) degrees, as well as non-degree Executive Education programs. For more information, visit www.gsb.columbia.edu.

About Columbia Law School

Columbia Law School was founded in 1858, and stands at the forefront of legal education and of the law in a global society. Columbia Law School joins its traditional strengths in international and comparative law, constitutional law, administrative law, business law, and human rights law with pioneering work in the areas of intellectual property, digital technology, sexuality and gender, criminal, national security, and environmental law. Follow Columbia Law School on Twitter:
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