Dan Boulware, featured speaker at the December 2012 commencement ceremony, told the graduates that community and civic service is not only commendable, but essential to society. “As we seek to do good, we help lift the society in which we live, those we care about, and, in turn, we lift our country,” he said.
Dan lives that lesson every day. Throughout his entire career in St. Joseph, Dan, who grew up in Columbus, Kan., has “given back” to nonprofits throughout the community, especially Missouri Western.
For his advocacy and work for education, specifically Missouri Western, Dan was awarded an honorary doctorate at the ceremony.
“If you have worked with Dan as I have,” said Dr. Robert Vartabedian, Missouri Western’s president, “you would not be surprised by all that he has done for our university and our community. What is surprising is that he has done all this while being one of the busiest and most respected attorneys in the country.”
Dan, who is managing partner for the St. Joseph office of law firm Polsinelli Shughart, arrived in St. Joseph as a young attorney when the four-year Missouri Western was just three years old. He was a member of Missouri Western’s governing board, the Board of Regents, from 1986 to 1993, serving as president in 1991 and 1992. He also chaired the Missouri Western Foundation’s capital campaign in 1989-90.
The Convocation on Critical Issues, which began in 1993, is named in his honor, and in his commencement address, he talked about and quoted Thomas Friedman, T. Boone Pickens and Arthur Schlesinger, Jr., past Convocation speakers.
In addition to managing the St. Joseph office, Dan is chair of the firm’s contingency fee practice nationwide. He is a senior trial lawyer who has served as lead counsel in many large, high-profile cases and has extensive trial experience in state and federal courts.
Forty-one years after receiving his Juris Doctorate from the University of Kansas, Dan says he still enjoys the competitive nature of trying lawsuits.
R. Dan Boulware receives the Honorary Degree of Doctor of Humane Letters. He is pictured with his wife, Dale, and Dr. Robert Vatabedian, Missouri Western's President
Dr. Janet McCarthy, who was president of Missouri Western when Dan served on the Board of Regents, initiated an endowed scholarship fund in Dan’s honor to coincide with the honorary degree. Within days of her announcement of a lead gift, Dan’s colleagues, friends and family members brought the fund amount to more than $17,000.
“The honorary doctorate was enough,” Dan said. “But the scholarship is a great thing. It is going to be a way to help a lot of young people who want to go to law school.”