The Fort Worth Chamber has picked Texas A&M-Fort Worth for its 2026 Vandergriff Award, an honor it gives each year to a person or organization whose work raises Tarrant County's profile nationally.
The chamber created the award in 2011 in memory of Tom Vandergriff, the former Tarrant County judge. The presentation is set for Wednesday, Oct. 14, during the chamber's annual State of the County lunch, held at River Ranch Stockyards, 500 N.E. 23rd St., starting at 11 a.m. and ending at 1 p.m.
Tarrant County Judge Tim O'Hare is scheduled to deliver this year's address there, then sit for a conversation on stage with Brian C. Newby, a past chamber chair who leads the law firm Cantey Hanger LLP. Registration is through the chamber's website.
Accepting for the university will be Robert B. Ahdieh, who leads the A&M law school as dean and serves as the Fort Worth campus's chief operating officer.
From a law school to a campus
Texas A&M's Fort Worth presence began in 2013, when the university bought a private law school downtown. The chamber's announcement says the school now ranks No. 22 nationally and enrolls more than 2,000 students.
The A&M System opened its Law & Education Building in August, an eight-story building that is the first piece of a planned downtown campus. It houses programs from Texas A&M and Tarleton State University along with six Texas A&M state agencies.
