Willard Lee Boyd is an
AmericanThe United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
legal scholar, academic administrator, and
President Emeritus of The University of Iowa and
Field Museum of Natural HistoryThe Field Museum of Natural History is located in Chicago, Illinois, USA. It sits on Lake Shore Drive next to Lake Michigan, part of a scenic complex known as the Museum Campus Chicago...
in Chicago, Illinois. He is currently on the faculty of the
University of Iowa College of LawThe University of Iowa College of Law is one of the eleven professional graduate schools at the University of Iowa, located in Iowa City, Iowa. Founded in 1865, it is the oldest law school in continuous operation west of the Mississippi River. The law school was ranked as the 27th best law school...
as the Rawlings/Miller Professor of Law and President Emeritus.
Early years and career
Boyd grew up on Commonwealth Avenue in St. Paul, MN, attending
Murray High SchoolMurray Junior High School is a junior high school and a former high school. The school is part of the Saint Paul Public Schools.-History:In February 1926 Murray opened as a neighborhood school with 13 classrooms and a gym. Grades K-3 and 7-9 were taught with a total of 200 students enrolled. In...
, St. Paul, Minnesota, graduating in 1944. He served as a U.S. Navy Hospital Corpsman from 1945 to 1947. He went on the
University of MinnesotaThe University of Minnesota, Twin Cities is a public research university located in Minneapolis and St. Paul, Minnesota, United States. It is the oldest and largest part of the University of Minnesota system and has the fourth-largest main campus student body in the United States, with 52,557...
, where he earned his B.S.L in 1949, and received his LL.B. from the
University of Minnesota Law SchoolThe University of Minnesota Law School, located in Minneapolis, Minnesota, USA, is a professional school of the University of Minnesota. The school offers a Juris Doctor , Masters of Law for Foreign Lawyers, and joint degrees with J.D./M.B.A., J.D./M.P.A, J.D./M.A., J.D./M.S., J.D./Ph.D.,...
in 1951. He was admitted to the Minnesota
BarIn the United States, admission to the bar is the granting of permission by a particular court system to a lawyer to practice law in that system. Each U.S. state and similar jurisdiction has its own court system and sets its own rules for bar admission , which can lead to different admission...
in 1951. Boyd then attended the
University of Michigan Law SchoolThe University of Michigan Law School is the law school of the University of Michigan, in Ann Arbor. Founded in 1859, the school has an enrollment of about 1,200 students, most of whom are seeking Juris Doctor or Master of Laws degrees, although the school also offers a Doctor of Juridical...
, where he received an LL.M. in 1952. He worked as an Associate
attorneyA lawyer, according to Black's Law Dictionary, is "a person learned in the law; as an attorney, counsel or solicitor; a person who is practicing law." Law is the system of rules of conduct established by the sovereign government of a society to correct wrongs, maintain the stability of political...
at Minneapolis
law firmA law firm is a business entity formed by one or more lawyers to engage in the practice of law. The primary service rendered by a law firm is to advise clients about their legal rights and responsibilities, and to represent clients in civil or criminal cases, business transactions, and other...
Dorsey & WhitneyDorsey & Whitney LLP is a large law firm, with close to 600 lawyers and 650 staff located in 19 offices in the United States, Canada, Europe, and Asia. Its headquarters is in Minneapolis, Minnesota, and has been since its inception. Dorsey is currently led by its managing partner, Marianne D. Short...
from 1952 to 1954.
Academia
After a brief time in private practice, Boyd entered academia, teaching law at The University of Iowa College of Law from 1954 to 1964; during this time he earned his S.J.D. from Michigan in 1962. He became a member of the Iowa Bar in 1958. His career as an academic administrator began in 1964, when he served as Associate Dean of the College of Law before becoming Vice President of Academic Affairs and Dean of the Faculties for The University of Iowa, a position he held from 1964 to 1969.
In 1969, Boyd succeeded
Howard BowenHoward Rothmann Bowen was an American economist and college president, serving as the president of Grinnell College from 1955 to 1964 and as the fourteenth President of the University of Iowa from 1964 to 1969...
as the fifteenth President of The University of Iowa. He served until 1981, and was eventually followed by
James O. FreedmanJames Oliver Freedman was a university president. A graduate of Harvard College and Yale Law School, he served briefly as Dean of the University of Pennsylvania Law School; as the sixteenth president of the University of Iowa from 1982 to 1987; and as the fifteenth president of Dartmouth College,...
. He served as Chairman of the American Association of Universities from 1979 to 1980.
After ending his tenure as a university president, Boyd served as the President of the Field Museum of Natural History in Chicago from 1981 to 1996. During this time, he was one of the first recipients of the Charles Frankel Prize (now the National Humanities Medal) in 1989, honoring his efforts to bring history, literature, philosophy and other humanities disciplines to general audiences.
He returned to Iowa in 2002 to serve as interim president, holding the role between 2002 and 2003 until being succeeded by
David J. SkortonDavid Jan Skorton is an American professor of medicine and an academic administrator. He is currently serving as the president of Cornell University.- Education :...
. After serving as Acting President, he returned to teaching as the Rawlings-Miller Professor of Law in 2003; he also was the Chester Phillips Research Fellow at the
Tippie College of BusinessThe Tippie College of Business at The University of Iowa, established as the College of Commerce in 1921, is one of the oldest and top ranked business schools in the United States. The College was the first academic division at the University of Iowa to be named for an alumnus, Henry B. Tippie, a...
at Iowa from 2003 to 2006.
He is a member of the
American Academy of Arts and SciencesThe American Academy of Arts and Sciences is an independent policy research center that conducts multidisciplinary studies of complex and emerging problems. The Academy’s elected members are leaders in the academic disciplines, the arts, business, and public affairs.James Bowdoin, John Adams, and...
, the
American Law InstituteThe American Law Institute was established in 1923 to promote the clarification and simplification of American common law and its adaptation to changing social needs. The ALI drafts, approves, and publishes Restatements of the Law, Principles of the Law, model codes, and other proposals for law...
, the Department of State Cultural Property Advisory Committee and the board of National Arts Strategies and chairs the Iowa Cultural Trust.
External links