Leland Boren Receives Honorary Degree from IWU By Alan Miller
12/13/04

Leland G. Boren, an Upland industrialist and farmer, received an honorary Doctor of Business Management degree during graduation ceremonies Saturday at Indiana Wesleyan University. Dr. Jim Barnes, IWU president, called Boren “an entrepreneur extraordinaire.”

Boren spoke at three graduation ceremonies on Saturday, during which 1,233 IWU students received diplomas.

Boren has been the chairman, president and CEO of Upland-based Avis Industrial Corp. since 1982. Avis is a holding company for 12 subsidiary manufacturing companies in the United States, England and Canada.

“He is an entrepreneur with multiple interests ranging from banking to cattle ranching to the music recording and publishing industry to the citrus fruit industry,” Barnes said in honoring Boren.

“But his significant accomplishments in the business world tell only a fraction about the life of this man. His leadership abilities are widely recognized and, furthermore, he never does anything less than 110 percent,” Barnes said.

Boren, at a young age, demonstrated a willingness to be a true servant leader, Barnes said. “No task or assignment was too menial,” Barnes said. He always went beyond the call of duty and volunteered to do what others resisted.”

Boren previously received honorary degrees from Taylor University and Anderson University. Two Indiana governors have honored Boren as a Sagamore of the Wabash, the highest honor a governor can bestow upon an Indiana citizen.

Boren and his wife, LaRita, have three adult children and five grandchildren. The family lives on a farm near Upland.

In addition to Saturday’s ceremonies, IWU also has three graduations in April and three in August. In 1988, when Marion College changed its name to IWU, the university had just one graduation each year.

This week’s graduates will bring to 3,406 the number of students who have received IWU degrees in 2004. It is the first time that more than 3,000 students have graduated from IWU in a calendar year.

The total includes 483 traditional students who attended classes on IWU’s main campus in Marion and 2,923 adult students who attended classes at sites throughout Indiana, Ohio and Kentucky. programs.