Although this campaign has ended, you can still make a gift to the Margaret Boyd Scholars Support Fund Endowment by using the Give to Ohio University donation page. Thank you, and Go Bobcats!
Boyd’s pioneering spirit and perseverance is honored with this scholars program that empowers students to engage with women and other marginalized genders to become leaders and citizens at OU and beyond. The Margaret Boyd Scholars Program selects 20 first-year OHIO students – from across all majors – for academic enrichment and leadership development throughout their undergraduate careers.
The primary goal of the Margaret Boyd Scholars Program is to develop critical leadership skills in students who otherwise might not self-identify as leaders and/or social change agents. The program builds upon the University’s five core values of character, community, citizenship, civility, and commitment to further OHIO’s central purpose of supporting the intellectual and personal development of students. The program fosters awareness regarding issues of social justice and gender equity through partnerships with committed OHIO faculty, community members, alumni and friends, students and staff.
→ Please a make gift today in honor of Margaret Boyd's OHIO legacy and to support the Scholars Program that now bears her name.
The Advisory Board of the Margaret Boyd Scholars Program is committed to growing and supporting the pioneering efforts of Margaret Boyd through an unlock gift during this crowdfunding campaign. In honor of the 150th anniversary of her graduation from Ohio University, the board will donate $1,500 once we hit 150 donors. Can you help us reach out goal of 150 to donors?
The program truly fostered my ambitious, “just go for it” spirit by providing me with a group of like-minded women with equally big dreams and hopes for their futures. — Gracie Keyes '17, College of Arts and Sciences alumna and Margaret Boyd Scholar
For me, the program exemplifies the strength found in diverse communities and has encouraged mindfulness when collaborating with others. — Alli Mancz '21, Honors Tutorial College alumna and Margaret Boyd Scholar
→ Charitable gifts from Ohio University alumni, MBSP alumnae, parents and family, friends, OU faculty and staff, and others will help ensure a thriving program for future cohorts of scholars.
The margin of excellence depends on the private support of you — our alumni and friends. There are many ways you can support this unique program, and your gift will shape the program’s future and the futures of the students.
Your involvement now will make this Margaret Boyd Scholars Program campaign a success. Here are 5 things alumni, friends, and parents can do to support the future of Boyd Scholars:
With her enrollment on April 1, 1868, Maggie Boyd became the first woman to enter Ohio University.
Maggie's diary covers January to December 1873 (with a single 1874 entry), including her last semester of college and her transition out into the working world.
Margaret “Maggie” Boyd was the first woman to graduate from Ohio University. In June it will be 150 years since her 1873 graduation. Maggie Boyd’s celebration marks 150 years of women graduating from OHIO.
In the Fall 2023, the Margaret Boyd Scholars Program will be 200-scholars strong!
Maggie’s small diary (4 x 2.66 x .75 inches) was the type with a page for each of the 365 days.
Maggie paved the way for the women who came after her, including Irma Voigt. Voigt became the first dean of women and served in that position until she retired in 1949 when 1,499 women were under her care.