R. Dan Boulware will receive an honorary doctorate during the Winter Commencement Ceremony Dec. 15.

The Winter Commencement ceremony for fall 2012 graduates of Missouri Western State University will be held at 11 a.m. Saturday, Dec. 15 in the arena of the M.O. Looney Complex. R. Dan Boulware, managing partner of the St. Joseph office of law firm Polsinelli Shughart, will receive an honorary Doctor of Humane Letters degree and will be the commencement speaker. The MWSU Alumni Association will host a free reception for graduates and their families after the ceremony in the Looney small gym. In addition, there will be a pinning ceremony for nursing graduates at 8:30 a.m. in the Fulkerson Center.

“Dan is an outstanding attorney and a great friend of higher education in general and Missouri Western in particular,” said Dr. Robert Vartabedian, Missouri Western’s president. “He has been an outstanding advocate on our behalf to the governor and other state leaders, has been dedicated for two decades to our Convocation on Critical Issues, and is working hard to secure funding to upgrade and expand our facilities. If you have worked with Dan as I have, 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. It is my privilege to present Dan with Missouri Western’s highest honor in recognition of his many professional achievements as well as his dedication to the success of our university.”

In addition to managing the law firm’s St. Joseph office, Boulware is chair of Polsinelli Shughart’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. He is admitted to practice before the United States Supreme Court, and is listed in “The Best Lawyers in America” publication. He wrote the initial “Chapter of Punitive Damages” contained in the Missouri Bar Deskbook on Damages, and has lectured on that subject and other trial matters.

Boulware is a Fellow of the American College of Trial Lawyers and an Advocate of the American Board of Trial Advocates. He is a member of the St. Joseph Bar Association, Kansas City Metropolitan Bar Association, The Missouri Bar, the American Bar Association and the Million Dollar Advocates Forum.

Public education, especially higher education, is a long-standing cause for Boulware. 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 chaired the Missouri Western State University Foundation capital campaign in 1989 and 1990. In 1992, Boulware served on the Missouri Task Force on Critical Issues for Higher Education and currently serves on the Board of Directors of the Missouri Higher Education Partnership to facilitate funding for higher education in Missouri.

The annual Convocation on Critical Issues is held at Missouri Western in Boulware’s honor each fall. The Convocation has featured such speakers as Arthur Schlesinger Jr., David McCullough, Jeanne Kirkpatrick, Colin Powell, Tom Friedman and T. Boone Pickens. Each year, Boulware provides a lively introduction of the Convocation speaker.

Boulware is also very active in other community causes. He has worked in fund drives for the YMCA, Young Life, the Multiple Sclerosis Society and the United Way. He and his wife, Dale, were the 2003 recipients of The Hope Award given by the National Multiple Sclerosis Society, Mid-America Chapter, in recognition of outstanding community and philanthropic service and leadership.

“Dale is a remarkable woman in her own right, with a long list of service to our community,” Dr. Vartabedian said. “Dan would be the first to say they have been a great ‘team’ for the improvement of our community for many years.”

Boulware received a Bachelor of Science in Business Administration and a Juris Doctor from the University of Kansas.

Missouri Western State University is a comprehensive regional university providing a blend of traditional liberal arts and professional degree programs. The university offers student-centered, high quality instruction that focuses on experience-based learning, community service, and state-of-the-art technology. Missouri Western is located in St. Joseph, Mo., and is committed to the educational, economic, cultural and social development of the region it serves. Visit www.missouriwestern.edu.