Carnegie Mellon University Monday said it is renaming its University Center, one of the most visible buildings on campus, in honor of president emeritus Jared Cohon.

School trustees approved the idea. An announcement to campus said that as the university’s center of campus life, the Cohon University Center will be “an enduring and fitting tribute” to the school’s eighth president, who stepped down in July after serving as president since July 1997.

Mr. Cohon is continuing to teach and last month was named the director of the university’s Wilton E. Scott Institute for Energy Innovation. The Cohon Center, which serves as Carnegie Mellon’s student center, contains fitness facilities, meeting and event rooms and other amenities including food court style eateries.

First Published: March 25, 2014, 3:08 a.m.