NACU Presents 2022 Ernest L. Boyer Award to Eboo Patel

On January 20, 2022, NACU presented the 12th Annual Ernest L. Boyer Award to Eboo Patel, founder and president of Interfaith Youth Core (IFYC). Dr. Patel, a respected leader on national issues of religious diversity, civic engagement, interfaith cooperation, then delivered the Boyer Lecture titled “What Promises Does Your College Make?” in which he challenged to the audience to reflect on the purpose of college and what outcomes it should have for graduates.

“I am honored and humbled to receive the Boyer Award. I have great admiration for the previous recipients, and I look forward to doing everything I can to live up to their example of leadership and innovation,” said Dr. Patel.

The award pays tribute to Ernest Boyer’s legacy by honoring others who are making significant contributions to American higher education. While serving as president of the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching, Dr. Boyer called for a “New American college,” referring to institutions that integrate liberal arts, professional programs, and civic engagement to graduate professionals that are prepared to address society’s social, economic, and cultural challenges. Past recipients of the Boyer Award have included Jose Antonio Bowen, Nancy Cantor, Cathy Davidson, Freeman Hrabowski, Frederick Lawrence, and Beverly Daniel Tatum.

“Dr. Patel has made it his life’s work to ensure that interfaith cooperation becomes a social norm in America,” said Sean Creighton, president of NACU. “In the last two decades, his efforts have reached administrators, faculty, and students at hundreds of colleges and universities to ensure that graduates have the skills needed in a religiously diverse world.”