Virginia Wesleyan University will officially become Batten University on July 1, honoring philanthropist Jane Batten, whose family has contributed as much as $150 million over the past 25 years.

Batten, 88, long resisted renaming the school despite gifts that funded major projects, including $20 million for a student center, $30 million for an environmental sciences center, $80 million to endow an honors college, eight professorships, and numerous other initiatives. But after a “full-court press” from faculty, alumni, and trustees, she agreed.

“People have sort of jokingly, but not jokingly, said she’s touched every life on campus,” university president Scott D. Miller said. “The place really is Batten University.”

Batten, widow of Landmark Communications chair Frank Batten, has been deeply involved with the school since joining its board in 1981. “I really became convinced of the promise of this place that, even in its earliest days, was known for really strong teaching,” she said to The Washington Post.

Schools named for philanthropists are common — Yale, Duke, Vanderbilt, and Rice among them — but name changes in recent decades are rare. Rowan University in New Jersey and Trine University in Indiana are among the few to make the switch. (RELATED: Virginia Protester’s Racist Sign Targeting Winsome Earle-Sears Sparks Outrage)

For Batten, the decision reflects her family’s long-standing ties to the campus. Her daughter once attended Virginia Wesleyan, her grandson graduated, and she remains a regular presence at sports, arts, and honors college events.

“The last 10 years, this place has matured in ways I wouldn’t have imagined,” Batten said. “Not only physically, but in the scope of what it’s involved in and the contributions it makes here and elsewhere.” (RELATED: FINALLY: Spanberger and Sears Face-Off Set as Democrat Lead Narrows)