KINGSTON, R.I. –May 13, 2014 –The University of Rhode Island’s Association for Professional and Academic Women has chosen Peggy Ferguson Boyd as its 2014 Woman of the Year.
Serving as assistant dean of the College of Business Administration since 2004, the Richmond resident oversees all student affairs operations for the College, which enrolls more than 1,500 undergraduate students and 350 graduate students and employs 54 faculty.
Boyd designed the college’s credit-bearing internship programs and was responsible for a 300 percent increase in placements, with 89 percent of students completing internships.
“Peg has been instrumental in the success we have achieved over the past eight years in the College of Business, but in particular, her leadership on the rollout of our career advising and internship program, which has been a role model for the rest of the University, has been extraordinary,” said Mark Higgins, dean of the business college.
One nomination letter said Boyd “is an outspoken and activist administrator in a male dominated college. Her presence and the success of her efforts within the college affirm the value of equal recognition and advancement of women. She is student focused and creative in advancing students from underrepresented groups.”
Boyd has also played a key role in updating core curriculum standards for the college, and she created the Junior Passport Program, a course taught by URI alumni, which focuses on goal setting, career toolboxes, networking, mentoring, interviewing and job searching.
Boyd was formerly assistant director of URI Career Services from 1998 to 2004, where she managed all aspects of recruitment, including on-campus interviewing, resume referral and career fairs. Boyd implemented job fair recruiting strategies and developed 10 industry-specific job fairs that reached more than 450 employers and 5,000 students.
“Peg is an outstanding student advocate and always does what’s in the best interest of the students,” said Thomas R. Dougan, vice president for Student Affairs. “She is innovative, enthusiastic and knows just how to push our students so they are prepared for the workplace when they graduate.”
Boyd is a member of the Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business, the international accrediting agency, the Cooperative Education & Internship Association and the New England College Transfer Association. She has also served with the National Association of Colleges and Employers and the New England Association for Cooperative Education and Field Experience.
As a successful grant writer, Boyd raised $600,000 for experiential education learning. Along with her lengthy higher education experience, she worked in the auditing department at Ernst & Young in New York.
She earned her bachelor’s degree in economics at Fordham University and a master’s degree in counseling and psychology at Springfield College. In addition, she completed the HERS Advancing Women Leaders in Higher Education in March of this year.
Though she enjoys working with students, Boyd is most proud of raising a family with her husband, Bob, and being a mother to her four children Jackson, Matthew, Nathan and Marion.
This press release was written by Sylvia Bogusz, a Communication Studies and Italian double major interning in the Department of Marketing and Communications.