Thomas Duckett Boyd (January 20, 1854 – November 2, 1932) was the president of Louisiana State University in Baton Rouge for 30 years, from 1896 until 1926.
He became known as "Colonel Boyd" in 1875 when he was elected Commandant of Cadets at the Louisiana State Seminary of Learning & Military Academy which would later become Louisiana State University.
Boyd was raised in Wytheville in the Blue Ridge Mountains of southwestern Virginia, the ninth of ten children born to Thomas Jefferson Boyd and Minerva French Boyd.
He was privately educated by the best tutor in the area, Howard Shriver. When he was 14, in 1868, he was admitted as a sophomore to the Louisiana State Seminary of Learning & Military Academy where his older brother, David F. Boyd, was superintendent. The Seminary would later become LSU.
In 1872 he received his bachelor's degree from LSU. After a year of legal studies, he was named adjunct professor of mathematics. He was also during the following years a professor of English literature, history, drawing, and engineering.
He was an interim LSU president in 1886 and in 1888 he became president of the Louisiana State Normal College, a school for training teachers in Natchitoches, Louisiana. Throughout his long career as an educator, he would remain very dedicated to providing good training for teachers at all levels of education.
In 1896 the LSU Board of Supervisors asked Colonel Boyd to return as President, a post that he was reluctant to accept, but he did return and held that position for the remaining thirty years of his career.
At LSU, Boyd created the LSU Law Center and the Department of Education. He reorganized departments into colleges and supported agricultural programs. In 1904, he opened LSU to women. To encourage professional educators he organized teacher training institutes. He worked for successful passage of legislation guaranteeing public schools a stream of state funding through taxations.
In 1953 the LSU Board of Supervisors established the Boyd Professorship in honor to Thomas and David Boyd. There have been 77 Boyd professors named since then. Boyd Professorships are the highest, most prestigious distinction awarded to a faculty member who has attained national or international distinction for outstanding teaching, research or other creative achievement.
Thomas D. Boyd Hall, the LSU administrative building in the center of the campus, is named in Thomas Boyd's honor.
In 1935, Marcus M. Wilkerson published through the LSU Press *Thomas Duckett Boyd: The Story of a Southern Educator*. Wilkerson, a student at LSU and editor of the university's newspaper, The Reveille, had begun work on the biography in the years before Colonel Boyd's retirement and conducted extensive interviews with Boyd about his life and career. After Boyd's death, Wilkerson was granted access to Boyd's papers and journals to complete the biography. Every statement in the biography has a citation for its source. (Available at Amazon!)
In 1882, Boyd wed the former Annie Foules Fuqua of Baton Rouge, and the couple had six children: Thomas Duckett Boyd, Jr. (1882-1964), Minerva French Boyd Howell (1888-1973), Annie Foules Boyd Grayson (1890-1979), Overton Fuqua Boyd (1892-1951), Henry Cecil Boyd (1895-1914), and Agnes Scott Boyd Pitcher (1896-1982). Mrs. Boyd died a year and a half before her husband in Baton Rouge. The Boyds and all of their children, except Agnes Boyd Pitcher, are interred at Magnolia Cemetery in Baton Rouge.
_____________________________________________
From Who's Who in the World, 1912
Boyd, Thomas Duckett: President, Louisiana State University and Agricultural and Mechanical College since 1896; founder and President of Louisiana Educational Ass'n and Louisiana Chautauqua.
Born Jan. 20, 1854, at Wytheville, Va., son of Thomas J. and Minerva A. (French) Boyd. Educated at Louisiana State Univ.; A.M. 1872, same; LL. D., Tulane Univ., 1897. Adjunct Prof. of Math, 1873-77. Commandant of Cadets, Prof. of English and later Prof. of History and English Lit., Louisiana State Univ. Pres. of State Normal School, Natchitoches, La. Married Annie F. Foqua, of Baton Rouge, La. March, 1882. Address: Baton Rouge, La. U.S.A.
Thomas Duckett Boyd (January 20, 1854 – November 2, 1932) was the president of Louisiana State University in Baton Rouge for 30 years, from 1896 until 1926.
He became known as "Colonel Boyd" in 1875 when he was elected Commandant of Cadets at the Louisiana State Seminary of Learning & Military Academy which would later become Louisiana State University.
Boyd was raised in Wytheville in the Blue Ridge Mountains of southwestern Virginia, the ninth of ten children born to Thomas Jefferson Boyd and Minerva French Boyd.
He was privately educated by the best tutor in the area, Howard Shriver. When he was 14, in 1868, he was admitted as a sophomore to the Louisiana State Seminary of Learning & Military Academy where his older brother, David F. Boyd, was superintendent. The Seminary would later become LSU.
In 1872 he received his bachelor's degree from LSU. After a year of legal studies, he was named adjunct professor of mathematics. He was also during the following years a professor of English literature, history, drawing, and engineering.
He was an interim LSU president in 1886 and in 1888 he became president of the Louisiana State Normal College, a school for training teachers in Natchitoches, Louisiana. Throughout his long career as an educator, he would remain very dedicated to providing good training for teachers at all levels of education.
In 1896 the LSU Board of Supervisors asked Colonel Boyd to return as President, a post that he was reluctant to accept, but he did return and held that position for the remaining thirty years of his career.
At LSU, Boyd created the LSU Law Center and the Department of Education. He reorganized departments into colleges and supported agricultural programs. In 1904, he opened LSU to women. To encourage professional educators he organized teacher training institutes. He worked for successful passage of legislation guaranteeing public schools a stream of state funding through taxations.
In 1953 the LSU Board of Supervisors established the Boyd Professorship in honor to Thomas and David Boyd. There have been 77 Boyd professors named since then. Boyd Professorships are the highest, most prestigious distinction awarded to a faculty member who has attained national or international distinction for outstanding teaching, research or other creative achievement.
Thomas D. Boyd Hall, the LSU administrative building in the center of the campus, is named in Thomas Boyd's honor.
In 1935, Marcus M. Wilkerson published through the LSU Press *Thomas Duckett Boyd: The Story of a Southern Educator*. Wilkerson, a student at LSU and editor of the university's newspaper, The Reveille, had begun work on the biography in the years before Colonel Boyd's retirement and conducted extensive interviews with Boyd about his life and career. After Boyd's death, Wilkerson was granted access to Boyd's papers and journals to complete the biography. Every statement in the biography has a citation for its source. (Available at Amazon!)
In 1882, Boyd wed the former Annie Foules Fuqua of Baton Rouge, and the couple had six children: Thomas Duckett Boyd, Jr. (1882-1964), Minerva French Boyd Howell (1888-1973), Annie Foules Boyd Grayson (1890-1979), Overton Fuqua Boyd (1892-1951), Henry Cecil Boyd (1895-1914), and Agnes Scott Boyd Pitcher (1896-1982). Mrs. Boyd died a year and a half before her husband in Baton Rouge. The Boyds and all of their children, except Agnes Boyd Pitcher, are interred at Magnolia Cemetery in Baton Rouge.
_____________________________________________
From Who's Who in the World, 1912
Boyd, Thomas Duckett: President, Louisiana State University and Agricultural and Mechanical College since 1896; founder and President of Louisiana Educational Ass'n and Louisiana Chautauqua.
Born Jan. 20, 1854, at Wytheville, Va., son of Thomas J. and Minerva A. (French) Boyd. Educated at Louisiana State Univ.; A.M. 1872, same; LL. D., Tulane Univ., 1897. Adjunct Prof. of Math, 1873-77. Commandant of Cadets, Prof. of English and later Prof. of History and English Lit., Louisiana State Univ. Pres. of State Normal School, Natchitoches, La. Married Annie F. Foqua, of Baton Rouge, La. March, 1882. Address: Baton Rouge, La. U.S.A.
Family Members
Sponsored by Ancestry
Advertisement
Explore more
Sponsored by Ancestry
Advertisement
