At a ceremony Oct. 15 at Jacksonville University College of Law, the university announced it is naming its Public Policy Institute after Preston Haskell, recognizing his decades of financial support and service to the institution and his recent $12 million gift.
“Preston wanted to combine his support by funding the institute’s presence at the law school. Public policy and law are different sides of the same coin,” JU College of Law Randall C. Berg Founding Dean Nick Allard said.
JU President Tim Cost said Haskell made a multiyear gift.
“A portion is an endowment and a portion will be used to support Public Policy Institute programs, events, staff and faculty. None of the gift will be used for capital projects,” Cost said.
“It’s a great opportunity for the university, for the students and for the community. I see it as a resource that’s not available in many cities Jacksonville’s size,” Haskell said. In 1965, he founded The Haskell Co., now a Jacksonville-based global architecture, engineering and construction company.
The expanded presence of the Haskell Public Policy Institute within JU’s law school at its Downtown campus gives students direct access to government offices, community leaders and the legislative process, Allard said.
The Downtown site is intended to be a center for research, discussion and collaboration while maintaining a continued presence on JU’s main campus in Arlington.
Rick Mullaney, executive director of the Public Policy Institute and Robert T. Shircliff Chair in Public Policy, said the institute established Florida’s first Master in Public Policy degree program in 2013. It remains the only MPP-JD dual degree curriculum in the state.
“I like to think we are equipping future leaders with core values, integrity and civility,” Mullaney said.
Haskell was a founding member of the Public Policy Institute board of advisers in 2012. Since then, the institute has established itself as a forum for nonpartisan civic dialogue and leadership development.
The institute partnered with WJXT TV-4 in 2015 and its faculty makes more than 100 appearances a year on local, national and international television and radio.
The institute has hosted 12 televised debates in local, state and federal elections, including gubernatorial primary debates, mayoral forums and sheriff’s races.
It has hosted more than 140 public policy programs on campus.
In 2019, Haskell’s leadership played a role in establishing the Robert T. Shircliff Endowed Chair in Public Policy, ensuring continued institutional support for the executive director position.
In 2024, the institute honored former Jacksonville Sheriff and Edward Waters University President Nathaniel Glover with the naming of the MPP Nathaniel Glover Fellowship Program, which provides full scholarships, stipends and internships in the Jacksonville mayor’s office for emerging public policy leaders.