Donald Bruce is the Randy and Jenny Boyd Distinguished Professor in the Haslam College of Business at the University of Tennessee with a joint appointment as Director of the Boyd Center for Business and Economic Research and Professor in the Department of Economics. As a Boyd Center economist, he regularly provides objective, non-partisan policy research and evaluation under contracts with an array of federal, state, and local government agencies, companies, and non-profit organizations. His ongoing work includes Tennessee state tax revenue forecasting for the State Funding Board and tax forecasting and consulting for the Metropolitan Government of Nashville and Davidson County. Recent clients include the Tennessee Departments of Finance and Administration, Human Services, Education, and Labor and Workforce Development, the Knox Education Foundation, and the Tennessee State Collaborative on Reforming Education. In addition to his Boyd Center research, Dr. Bruce studies the economic and behavioral effects of tax policies on such things as small business activity and owner-occupied housing. His work has been presented and published in a variety of academic journals, edited volumes, and professional meetings. He has testified before Congress on the topic of internet taxation, and he presented his work on taxes and small business activity before the President’s Advisory Panel on Federal Tax Reform in 2005. He is currently Vice President of the National Tax Association and will become President in 2026. He served as the University of Tennessee's Faculty Athletics Representative to the NCAA and SEC from 2012 to 2025. He teaches graduate and undergraduate courses on the economics of taxation.

Dr. Bruce joined the UT faculty in 1999 after receiving his M.A. and Ph.D. in Economics from Syracuse University and his B.A. with honors in Economics from Drew University.