Carmen Boyd
Instructor; Dietetic Program Director
Carmen’s courageous leadership, cultural exchange and community engagement both locally and abroad, is a wonderful model of living out the Public Affairs Mission.
On an international level, Carmen states, “my most interesting experiences have been with Convoy of Hope, a local international relief agency, with whom I have been volunteering my nutrition services for their feeding programs.” Carmen works with Convoy of Hope by providing general nutritional guidance for a variety of different feeding center populations around the world. Additionally, she has been able to extend cultural and practical learning opportunities for her students to work in Haiti, El Salvador, and Tanzania as well as assist with others in Africa and the Philippines. Carmen states that, “COH is a wonderful agency to work with and I appreciate the opportunities provided to me and to my students.”
Carmen is also very active with a variety of local historic preservation and veteran groups. She serves as the registrar for the Daughters of the American Revolution (DAR), is on the Tent Council for the Daughters of Union Veterans (DUV) and is a member of the United Daughters of the Confederacy. These groups work hard to preserve historical and genealogical records, assist with Wilson’s Creek National Battlefield events and provide assistance to veterans and wounded warriors.
Carmen says one of the more fun things she has begun working with recently, is as a volunteer for “Find-A-Grave.” Its mission is assisting in finding, recording and presenting final disposition information from around the world as a virtual cemetery experience. “Photographing cemeteries and tombstones (especially the older ones), recording information, putting it online, as well as assisting others in their search for ancestors, has been a very rewarding experience” states Carmen. All these activities help promote patriotism and provide a historical knowledge to children and adults.
In addition, Carmen is active in many church volunteer projects and coordinates “Fish Day” offered through Crosslines of Springfield, where volunteers serve one day on designated months to assist their clients in the selection of appropriate and healthy food items.
We are proud to recognize Carmen Boyd as February’s Public Affairs Faculty Spotlight for her dedication to improving lives and communities both locally and abroad!