Concordia Nebraska Instructor of Practice, Director of Strategic Planning, and Part-time Counselor Kim Boyce

It’s not uncommon for employees working at a small university to have a variety of roles. Kim Boyce is no exception. Currently, Boyce is a Professor of Practice of Psychology, a part time Counselor, and Director of Strategic Planning at Concordia. Boyce finds that his myriad job titles are important to him, because they allow him to be who he is.

So who is Kim Boyce?  

Despite his significant roles in psychology positions, Boyce did not initially plan to pursue psychology. During his undergraduate years at John Brown University, he studied pastoral ministries and Greek. He attributes this initial path to the environment of a Christian university. “When I began undergrad, I really didn’t know who I was, or where I was headed in life. In that environment, I was encouraged to seek answers for those uncertainties in my relationship with Jesus Christ," Boyce recalled.

Encouraged by this Christ centered environment, Boyce decided to start a career as a preaching pastor at a missionary church. Soon after starting that job, Boyce found he might be better suited to serve in other ways. “I found that I had so much respect for what they were doing, but it just was not who I was," said Boyce. After he stepped down from that role, Boyce found his calling in a field he refers to as “people helping.”  

“People-helping” is a term that Boyce frequently uses in his classroom that describes the effort of demonstrating care and competence in assisting others in their life challenges. Boyce believes that his role as a people helper looks a lot like helping others to find peace. Boyce clarified "It may be peace with a situation or relationship in their life, peace with themselves, or peace with God; which is the only lasting peace. I am careful to try not to “fix” people or their problems, or to even give advice, but rather to assist others to find or develop a perspective that leads them to peace.”  

In order to make this goal in his life a reality, Boyce decided to pursue a degree in marriage and family therapy. “I’m just a people helper and that’s who I believe God has created me to be. Everything in my life became about how I do that to the best of my ability," said Boyce.

 After earning his Master's of Science in Marriage and Family Therapy, Boyce began in the Human Services field by managing the operations of a psychiatric hospital. He continued his work by founding a human service organization dedicated to serving individuals with intellectual disabilities and severe mental illness diagnoses, which is a population for whom Kim has a lot of compassion.  “My sister lived with a developmental disability, so from a young age, I realized that not everyone experiences the world in the same way. This helped me develop an interest and a compassion for serving people who may have needs that are misunderstood, or even challenging to interact with," explained Boyce. This work continued Boyce’s interest and passion for this population and led him to design an organization to serve them. During this time in his career he founded several other human service organizations and acquired others over multiple states.   

After selling the Nebraska operations of his main company in 2018, Boyce continued to manage his other businesses, but decided he wanted to do more. At this time, Boyce began to pursue his lifelong goal of working at a Christian university. “I attended a Christian University in undergraduate and graduate school. I have always hoped for an opportunity to teach at a Christian University where I can contribute to the next generation of Christian leaders. Boyce was hired at Concordia in 2018 as an adjunct professor.  Later, he was asked to help in the counseling office, and then as the Director of Strategic Planning.  

To Boyce, the common denominator of all of his roles at Concordia is emotional intelligence. The importance of emotional intelligence is clear in the classes he teaches on campus, such as Introduction to Counseling. Introduction to Counseling is a night class, and throughout the course of the class, students implement different counseling practices. “It’s a different kind of challenge than many other college classes,” said Boyce. “What I’m asking people to do is harder than a test. I’m asking people to really listen to someone else, empathize and understand them, and ultimately respond to them in a caring manner in moments when others feel upset or overwhelmed. That’s not easy.” 

Boyce has found value in his work at Concordia because of the space college gives students to struggle with significant issues in life in a supportive environment. “College is an opportunity for young people to wrestle with very significant questions in their lives: themselves, their faith, their family of origin" he said. "I’m grateful to have the chance to create that safe space for this process to happen.”  

Boyce plans to continue carrying out his duties with a foundation of humility and trust in God. "Whenever a new person enters my life, I tend to ask myself a few questions: “Why has God put them in my life? What do they need from me? That takes the focus off of me and puts my focus on finding God’s purposes for the relationship.” 

Boyce spends his time carrying out his various responsibilities at Concordia and managing his other businesses throughout the United States. He is married to Kristi, and has two children: Kaleb, 18 and Hannah, 13.