Rocky River Resident Dick Boyd Receives Ole Miss Education Service Award

Boyd Inducted into UM School of Education Hall of Fame

The University of Mississippi School of Education honored 10 individuals for significant contributions to the field of education during its recent annual awards ceremony, including Richard Boyd of Rocky River.

Six individuals were inducted into the education school’s fifth class of the Alumni Hall of Fame, joining 20 previous inductees. Four alumni were also honored as Practitioners of Distinction in recognition of positive service to education, joining eight previously recognized.

“We believe there is no more important area of service in our state and nation than as an educator,” said UM School of Education Dean David Rock. “Our six Hall of Fame inductees and four Practitioners of Distinction are distinguished educators who have impacted thousands of lives and have made our state and nation better. They are role models for our current students to follow.”

The 2019 Hall of Fame inductees include Janice Barton of Hernando; Mike Edmonds of Colorado Springs, Colorado; Terre Blanton Harris of Ridgeland; Fannye Love of Bartlett, Tennessee; and the late Ralph Walton of Orlando, Florida. Richard Boyd of Rocky River, Ohio, received the Outstanding Educational Service Award and was also recognized as part of the Hall of Fame.

The 2019 Practitioners of Distinction include Jamil Northcutt, the vice president of player engagement for the Major Soccer League in West Orange, New Jersey; Adam Pugh, the superintendent of Lafayette County School District in Oxford; Wanda Quon, principal of Pecan Park Elementary School in Jackson; and Angela Victory, a teacher at New Albany Elementary School.

The Hall of Fame inductees and Outstanding Educational Service Award recipient were selected by the School of Education Alumni Advisory Board through nominations made by the SOE community.

Boyd, who committed more than 57 years to educational service, is this year’s recipient of the Outstanding Educational Service Award, which is a special recognition allowing UM to honor non-alumni who have dedicated themselves to education. After 33 years serving Ohio schools in roles that included teacher, coach, principal and superintendent, he was hired as Mississippi’s first appointed state superintendent of education in 1984. He assumed this role following the adoption of the Mississippi Education Reform Act of 1982. He used his passion for education to successfully implement the most significant education reform effort in the country at the time.

After his role as state superintendent, he spent 10 years on the Ole Miss campus as a visiting professor of educational leadership and director of programs for the Barksdale Reading Institute.

“My advice to upcoming education graduates is to go to places where they believe they can really be helpful to students,” Boyd said. “Most graduates shy away from that because there are so many graduates who are afraid to step outside of their comfort zones. I admire graduates who will do that despite their own backgrounds.”

For more information about the UM School of Education alumni awards or to nominate an alumnus, go to education.olemiss.edu.