Written by: Nic Arp
During the course of his 43-year Iowa Law career, Professor Emeritus William Glen Buss— known to all as Bucky—inspired thousands of students and colleagues, helping to shape the practice of law across the state and around the nation. Now, the William G. Buss Scholarship at Iowa Law will perpetuate his legacy for generations to come.
Buss’s family—his wife of 68 years, Barby, and his daughters, Emily and Sarah—spearheaded the establishment of Buss’s namesake scholarship after his death at age 91 on July 29, 2024. Family members and friends, colleagues, and admirers joined in contributing to the fund, ensuring that the scholarship will have maximum impact on Iowa Law and its students.
A star high school athlete from Cuyahoga Falls, Ohio, Buss was the first in his family to attend college, graduating from Yale University. After a two-year stint in the U.S. Navy, he earned his law degree from Harvard Law School. Scholarships enabled both of those academic achievements, so he would no doubt be pleased to know that first-generation students are the preferred recipients of the Buss Scholarship.
“He would hope that the scholarship funding would make it easier for some to go to law school, and also easier for those students to pursue their chosen career, such as a career in public interest, that is often pushed out of reach by student debt,” said Emily Buss. “Dad recognized the role of law and lawyers in moving the world in a more just and equitable direction, and he would surely hope that the scholarship would help Iowa to recruit students committed to those values.”
After law school, Buss clerked for Judge Bailey Aldrich of the United States Court of Appeals for the First Circuit before joining the Foley Hoag law firm in Boston. His love for teaching, research, and social justice took center stage when he joined the faculty of the Harvard Graduate School of Education, helping to oversee a federal study of desegregation in three cities’ public school systems. When the University of Iowa offered him a position as a law professor, he jumped at the chance and stayed for decades. He retired in 2010 as the O.K. Patton Professor Emeritus of Law.
A gentle, good-humored man, Buss taught widely, but his expertise lay in constitutional law, specifically the constitutional aspects of public education policy and the comparative study of the U.S. Constitution with the Australian, New Zealand, and English constitutions. He served as a visiting professor in each of those countries.
Given Buss’s love for his work, it is fitting that his daughters went on to become professors, after childhoods filled with exhilarating dinner-table discussions of law and current affairs. Sarah once taught a course at Iowa Law with him, and Emily and he co-wrote an article that combined his expertise on the Australian Constitution and hers on family law.
“It was one of the most meaningful scholarly projects I have worked on,” Buss said, “with all of the intellectual intensity of coauthorship and the special pleasure of sharing the work with my dad.”
Like Barby, Emily, and Sarah, Iowa Law was fortunate to have Bucky Buss for so many years—and with the William G. Buss Scholarship, he is still shaping knowledge and lives.
Donations to the fund can be made at givetoiowa.org/Buss.