Years ago, two city women moved to the small town of Martin for a college education and ended up staying.
The women, Deborah Williams-Boyd and Natalie Dickerson-Boyd, both of whom grew up in Memphis, graduated from UTM, met their husbands at UTM and are employees of UTM.
They also are sisters-in-law because their husbands are brothers, and both believe that UTM was meant for their families.
Williams-Boyd began her UTM journey in August 1974.
“Having a full paid scholarship to Vanderbilt, Spellman, Memphis State or Howard wasn’t enough. I did not want to stay in Memphis,” Williams-Boyd said.
However, she didn’t like Martin, so she returned home, but not for long.
“I packed up my things and left in the middle of night. When I got to Memphis, my dad told me that he would not accept a quitter,” Williams-Boyd said.
Williams-Boyd later met her husband, UTM alumnus Sylvester Boyd Sr., who graduated with a B.S. in Accounting.
“I was sitting in the lobby of Clement trying to study some accounting. I was lost as two left feet! He happened to come in and ask me what I was doing. I told him [I was] studying accounting. He said, ‘Oh that’s easy, I am an Accounting major.’ I acquired my own personal study person and the rest is history,” Williams-Boyd said.
After earning a B.S. in Business Education and a MBA at UTM, Williams-Boyd went to work in the university’s Business Affairs office. She has been employed for 34 years in the same office in which she did her work-study as a student.
Her three children also graduated from UTM: two sons, Kobie Boyd with a MBA and B.S. in Management; Sylvester Boyd II with a B.S. in Health and Human Performance and a daughter, Debrasha Patrice Boyd, with a MBA and a B.S. in Business Education.
“UTM has been the place in which every one of my immediate family members received their higher education. My husband and I felt that if it was good enough for us, then it was certainly good enough for them also,” Williams-Boyd said.
Williams-Boyd also collects elephants, many of which are in her UTM office.
“I have about 400 of them: swizzle sticks, ice cubes, lamps, rings, tables, china, teakwood, etc. … even a pachyderm from Saudi Arabia, Korea and Taiwan. Many faculty members bring me souvenirs when they travel,” Williams-Boyd said.
Williams-Boyd added that UTM has had a huge influence on her life.
“It has allowed me the opportunity to help a vast number of students with their education. I am of the persuasion that I have a role in demonstrating that UTM is the campus that cares, and that no other person or position is better than any other person or position. If I were to describe UTM in one sentence, I would say you start out as a piece of raw material, and if you stay long enough, and graduate, you are a finished product and ready for the world,” Williams-Boyd said.
Her sister-in-law, Natalie Dickerson-Boyd, said that UTM has greatly influenced her life as well.
“My UTM experience was memorable simply because I obtained a Social Work degree, met the man who would become my husband of 24 years, Roy L. Boyd, established lifelong friendships and grew socially and spiritually,” Dickerson-Boyd said.
Dickerson-Boyd said that when she got to UTM, she suffered a bit of culture shock but that did not scare her away.
“I had the opportunity to have such wonderful people in my life that not only spoke great words of encouragement [and] displayed concern and love, but were committed to always making sure that their doors were open to a little homesick girl from Memphis,” Dickerson-Boyd said.
During her time at UTM, Dickerson-Boyd lived in Atrium Hall (now Cooper Hall) with most of the members of Chi Omega sorority and was a member of the Black Student Association and the Social Work Honor Society.
Like Williams-Boyd, Dickerson-Boyd has seen the wide-ranging influence UTM has had on her family.
“There have been many in my family who have attended and graduated from this university: my husband, two brothers-in-law, one sister-in-law, one niece, two nephews and two or three cousins. So, you see, UTM was not only the place where we all met each other, but it became a place where we studied and prayed together. It is the root of our being a family,” Dickerson-Boyd said.
Dickerson-Boyd has two children. Cameron is a senior Pre-Med student at UTM, and Mariah is a freshman at the University of Memphis.
After allowing UTM to help her, Dickerson-Boyd now gives back to the campus as the P.S.E.P.P., Personal Safety Empowerment Partnership Program, Count Me In coordinator.
“Serving in this role allows me to not only educate students, faculty, staff and the community about sexual violence and how it can be prevented, but [it also allows me] to help be a mouthpiece for individuals/victims who are afraid to speak out and against a crime that has affected so many,” Dickerson-Boyd said.
“I do what I do best – serving people.”
Dickerson-Boyd said that serving people and working to attain positive thoughts are important parts of a student’s experience.
“While [you’re] a student at UTM, strive to think at an altitude beyond your attitude, so that you will move into a place of higher and more powerful thinking. … Always have your hands open to not just receive for yourself but to give of yourself,” Dickerson-Boyd said.
