September 19-20, 2002

ITEM 116-2002-R0902   Authorization to Confer the Title of Professor Emeritus of Industrial and Management Engineering upon Donald W. Boyd, Montana State University-Bozeman

THAT:  Upon the occasion of the retirement of Donald W. Boyd from the faculty of Montana State University, the Board of Regents wishes to express its appreciation for his service to the University, the Montana University System, and the people of the State of Montana.

EXPLANATION:  During the 1960's, Donald Boyd earned four degrees from Montana State University. The first was a B.S. in Electrical Engineering in 1961. He added a Masters degree in Electrical Engineering two years later in 1963. Don then pursued and completed a second bachelors in Mathematics in 1965. He culminated his formal education in 1968 with a Ph.D. in Agricultural Economics. He continued with doctoral level coursework and research in Electrical Engineering, under the supervision of Dr. Byron Bennett. While the work did not result in a second Ph.D., it was deemed to be nearly equivalent. This breadth and depth of education is certainly noteworthy.

With a B.S. and M.S. degree in his credentials, Don Boyd joined the Industrial Engineering faculty at MSU as a lecturer in January of 1964. Two years later, he accepted an adjunct instructor position in the department. Don continued to serve as an educator in Industrial and Management Engineering for thirty-eight years. Such a long record of service is, indeed, extraordinary. He has taught every undergraduate course in I&ME, and he either introduced and/or taught most of the graduate courses as well.

Dr. Boyd was assigned as chair to the I&ME graduate program in 1967; he remained in that position until his retirement in May of 2002. Don nurtured the development of the program, and he maintained its integrity and fine reputation for more than three decades. He also served many years on the graduate studies committee for the College of Graduate Studies.

As an undergraduate student, Don acted as President of the Montana State College Student Club. During his presidency, the club called for and lobbied the Montana State legislature to change the name of Montana State College to Montana State University.

Very recently, Dr. Boyd completed work on his textbook, Systems Analysis and Modeling: A Macro-to-Micro Approach with Multidisciplinary Applications. It was published by Academic Press in 2001 and is being used by major universities in systems engineering courses. More than one-hundred graduate students passed through Professor Boyd=s systems analysis and modeling courses, and they were influenced by the systems thinking that grew from class lecture notes into a text.

For these and other contributions, the Board of Regents of Higher Education is pleased to confer Donald W. Boyd the rank of Professor Emeritus of Industrial and Management Engineering at Montana State University and wishes him/her well for many years in the future.