Mount Mercy University will welcome The University of Iowa’s Professor of Law and President Emeritus Willard Boyd, S.J.D., as the annual Presidential Lecture series speaker. Boyd's lecture, "The Role of Charitable Nonprofit Organizations in the United States" is free and open to the public. Seating may be limited.
A renowned lawyer and educator, Boyd serves as Chair of the Larned A. Waterman Iowa Nonprofit Resource Center and serves as the President Emeritus of The Field Museum of Chicago.
As one of the founders of the Larned A. Waterman Iowa Nonprofit Resource Center, Boyd focuses on the role of nonprofits in Iowa and the United States. The Center is a university-wide interdisciplinary program involving departments and faculties from across the University who are interested in and engaged with nonprofit organizations.
Boyd teaches courses on the legal and operational aspects of nonprofit organizations, and has extensive experience on a multitude of boards and nonprofits. He served as chair of Governor Vilsack’s Task Force on the Role of Nonprofit Organizations in Iowa, and has served as chairman for numerous associations, including the American Association of Universities and the National Museum Services Board, among many others. He has also served as president of the National Commission on Accrediting, and serves on numerous committees and councils.
He was one of the first winners of the Charles Frankel Prize awarded in 1989 by the National Endowment for the Humanities, which honored five Americans for their efforts to bring history, literature, philosophy and other humanities disciplines to general audiences.
Boyd received a Bachelor of Science in Law and a Bachelor in Law degree from the University of Minnesota and his Master of Law and Doctor of Juridical Science degrees from the University of Michigan. He is a member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, the American Law Institute and on the board of National Arts Strategies.