Gwendolyn Boyd Suspended as President of Alabama State University

By a vote of 8-6, the board of trustees of Alabama State University voted to suspend Gwendolyn Boyd from her position as president of the university. President Boyd was charged with “failure to maintain the confidence of the board.”

A hearing will be held on November 14 to determine Dr. Boyd’s future. Earlier in the week, President Boyd announced that due to the university’s financial situation, employees would be furloughed one day each month for the next year, meaning they would lose a day of pay.

Dr. Boyd became the first woman president of Alabama State University in February 2014. Just a year ago, the board extended her contract for three years.

Before being named president of Alabama State, Dr. Boyd was the executive assistant to the chief of staff of the Applied Physics Laboratory at Johns Hopkins University in Laurel, Maryland. She is the former president of the 200,000-member Delta Sigma Theta Sorority.

Dr. Boyd is a graduate of Alabama State University. She was the first African American to earn a master’s degree in mechanical engineering from Yale University. She holds a second master’s degree and a doctorate from Howard University in Washington, D.C.