Dr. David Ross Boyd was born in Ohio and served as superintendent of schools in Ohio from 1880 to 1888 before moving to Arkansas City, Kansas where he became superintendent of schools from 1888 to 1892. Upon his arrival in the Oklahoma Territory to organize and serve as the first president of the University of Oklahoma in Norman (1892-1908), he planned the reservation of 400,000 acres in the Cherokee Strip and Kiowa-Comanche territories for support of state schools of higher learning. He also organized 300,000 acres on which to erect public buildings. He was appointed as superintendent of education for the Presbyterian Board of Home Missions in 1908 and later became the president of the University of New Mexico. He returned to Norman as president emeritus of the University of Oklahoma in 1930.