John W. Boyer is Senior Advisor to the President and the Martin A. Ryerson Distinguished Service Professor in the Department of History at the University of Chicago. He served as Dean of the College from 1992 through June 2023, making him the longest-tenured dean in the history of the university.
Born and raised on Chicago’s South Side, Boyer’s early life in a close-knit, blue-collar family kindled a dedication to provide opportunities for others, above all through education. Over the course of 31 years his leadership transformed the College. Boyer expanded the College curriculum to include many new Core courses and innovative programs of study, strengthened the admissions program, and established the Society of Fellows in the Liberal Arts.
Boyer was also deeply involved in the founding of the original University of Chicago Center in Paris that opened in 2003. He worked to create many new opportunities for College students involving international study, internships, and foreign language instruction; to broaden student research opportunities; to enhance the relationship of the College to the professional schools; to build four major on-campus facilities for residential life and to enhance faculty leadership of the College’s residential system; to strengthen programmatic and financial resources for student life; and to provide strong career advising programs for College students. Learn more about the transformation of the College and Boyer’s leadership here.
In Spring 2023, University alumni, parents, and trustees contributed $21.5 million to name the University of Chicago John W. Boyer Center in Paris in recognition of Boyer’s extraordinary tenure as Dean of the College. “The expansion of the Center in Paris will benefit faculty, students, alumni and partners in Europe, Africa, and the Middle East for generations to come,” said Boyer at an event during which the Center’s name was revealed. “It will be a model for what a major American research university can contribute in Europe, becoming a prominent voice of public policy, scholarly achievement and cultural creativity in Paris and beyond.”
Boyer regularly teaches the history of European Civilization in the College, as well as courses on religion and politics in modern European history and on the history of the Habsburg Empire and modern Germany. He continues to lead a highly sought-after South Side Bike Tour for students, faculty and community members, where he shares stories of key figures and significant places as they peddle through Hyde Park and the surrounding neighborhoods.
In 2004 Boyer was awarded the Cross of Honor for Science and Art, First Class, by the Republic of Austria. He received the 2006 Austrian State Prize for Modern History. He is a Corresponding Member of the Austrian Academy of Sciences, and he was awarded an honorary doctorate from the University of Vienna in 2015, in recognition of his scholarly work on the Habsburg Empire. He has written four books on Central European history and published The University of Chicago: A History which tracks the evolution of the University since its founding in 1890.