Library Event Willard L "Sandy" Boyd reads from his new memoir "A Life on the Middle West's Never-Ending Frontier"

University of Iowa legend Willard L. "Sandy" Boyd will read from and discuss his new book, "A Life on the Middle West's Never-Ending Frontier", from University of Iowa Press. Sandy Boyd’s decades of service to the University or Iowa began in 1954, when he arrived as a law professor. He served as president of the University of Iowa from 1969 to 1981. He then served as President of the Field Museum of Natural History in Chicago from 1981-1996. he returned to Iowa to teach in the College of Law in 1996, serving as the interim president of the College of Law between 2002-2003, then returned to teaching as the Rawlings-Miller Professor of Law.

His new memoir, interspersed with personal wisdom gleaned over more than six decades of service and leadership, encapsulates Boyd's shrewd yet optimistic view of the public university as an institution. At every stage in his life--in the U.S. Navy during World War II, while practicing law or teaching, and in leadership positions at Chicago's Field Museum and the University of Iowa-- Boyd relied on his principles of open disclosure, inclusiveness, and respect for differences to guide him on issues that matter.

This memoir provides a lens through which to examine our present situation, whether debating free speech on campus, the role of the arts and humanities in civil society, or the importance of funding for educational and cultural institutions.

This event is sponsored by Prairie Lights and the Iowa City Public Library. Copies of the book will be available at the event, and Professor Boyd will have a short signing at the end of the event.