Texas A&M law dean who led the Fort Worth innovation campus plan will become Pace University's president

The dean of Texas A&M University School of Law in downtown Fort Worth is leaving to run Pace University in New York.

Pace's board of trustees unanimously elected Robert "Bobby" Ahdieh as the university's ninth president, the school announced Tuesday. He takes office Jan. 1, 2027, succeeding Marvin Krislov, who is stepping down at the end of the year after nearly a decade in the job.

At Texas A&M, Ahdieh has held three titles at once: dean of the law school, vice president for professional schools and programs, and chief operating officer of Texas A&M-Fort Worth.

The Fort Worth campus

Pace's announcement credits Ahdieh with conceiving and leading development of a new innovation campus in Fort Worth valued at more than $1 billion, which it describes as a hub tying health sciences, engineering, business and law to private-sector partners for research and workforce training.

As vice president, Pace said, he also helped lead graduate enrollment growth across A&M, including its engineering, medicine, architecture, education, nursing and agriculture colleges.

Pace's announcement did not say who will take over his duties at Texas A&M.

Back to New York

Before Texas A&M, Ahdieh spent nearly two decades at Emory University School of Law, where he was a professor and vice dean. He began his career as a clerk for a federal appeals judge and later worked as a trial attorney in the U.S. Justice Department's Civil Division. He holds degrees from Princeton and Yale Law School.

Ahdieh was raised in New York City by immigrant parents, according to Pace. "New York is where my family's American dream began," he said in the announcement, adding that colleges willing to lead with ambition and engage honestly with the current moment will shape the future of higher education.

Robert S. Sands, chairman of Pace's board, called him "a bold institution-builder" who can raise academic quality and expand access.

Pace enrolls about 13,600 students at campuses in New York City and Westchester County, including the Elisabeth Haub School of Law.

Sources

pace.edu