Professor Emerita Boyd H. Davis receives Southminster’s inaugural 8 Over 80 award
Boyd H. Davis, Ph.D., professor emerita of English and gerontology, was recognized as one of Southminster’s inaugural 8 Over 80 honorees on Nov. 11. Davis continues to research and write in her retirement, contributing to important research on aging, dementia and caregiving.
Southminster is a non-profit community providing innovative living solutions to aging across a full continuum of care. Their first 8 Over 80: Lifetime of Purpose Honorees are “eight extraordinary individuals who continue to inspire with their creativity, leadership, and unwavering sense of purpose.”
“When I received word that Southminster was honoring inspiring individuals over the age of eighty who have made a significant impact in the Charlotte-Mecklenburg region, I immediately thought of Dr. Boyd Davis,” said Cynthia R. Hancock, Ph.D., director of the Gerontology Program, in her nomination letter. “Dr. Davis has been my colleague at UNC Charlotte for over two decades. Her life has left a legacy in Charlotte and beyond that will certainly ‘inspire generations’ to come.”
In addition to Davis, the 2025 honorees included Mary Lou Babb, John T. Crawford, Harvey B. Gantt, Hugh L. McColl, Jr., Caroline Love Myers, Sally Robinson and Charles Squires. Southminster stated that “each honoree shows us that every stage of life can be full of new possibilities, deep meaning and lasting impact.”
“Dr. Boyd Davis exemplifies the spirit of this award — showing us that passion, scholarship and service can grow deeper with time,” said Meredith Troutman-Jordan, Ph.D., PMHCNS-BC, professor of gerontology and nursing in the College of Health and Human Services. “Her lifetime of purpose has transformed the way we understand aging and has inspired countless individuals to see older adulthood as a time of meaning and contribution.”
Teaching Career
While at UNC Charlotte, Davis taught a variety of classes across English and gerontology, including Introduction to Language, Introduction to Linguistics, Language, Health and Aging, and Language, Culture and Society.
Davis was instrumental in developing the ongoing service-learning project in the undergraduate Introduction to Gerontology course, according to Dena Shenk, Ph.D., professor emerita of anthropology and founding director of the Gerontology Program.
“Through this requirement, hundreds of students have learned to communicate effectively with people living with dementia and improved the care provided to those individuals in local long-term care communities,” said Shenk.
In addition to UNC Charlotte, Davis’s academic affiliations include adjunct research professor in the College of Nursing at the Medical University of South Carolina, affiliate faculty at the Health, Equity, and Rural Outreach Innovation Center (HEROIC/COIN) at Ralph H. Johnson VA Medical Center in Charleston, SC, Cercle Ferdinand de Saussure in Geneva, Switzerland and research collaborator at the New Zealand Institute of Language, Brain and Behavior.
Davis received numerous awards during her teaching career, including the 2004-2005 Harshini V. de Silva Graduate Mentor Award, the Bonnie E. Cone Distinguished Professorship for Teaching in 1997 and the 1977 NCNB/UNC Charlotte Faculty Teaching Award (now the UNC Charlotte Award for Teaching Excellence (tenured faculty)).
Gerontology and Dementia Research
Before joining UNC Charlotte, Davis earned a B.A. from the University of Kentucky and M.A. and Ph.D. from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Her research interests include incorporating sociohistorical approaches to medical discourse and Alzheimer’s speech, lifespan language, online discourse and digital corpora of speech.
“Dr. Davis’s work in gerontology and dementia research is well known in both academic and medical circles,” said Paula G. Eckard, Ph.D., professor in the Department of English. “Her interest in caregiving and helping caregivers work with older adults and people living with dementia has had a tremendous impact on the field. She has developed methods of communicating with people with dementia that have benefitted not only those individuals but their caregivers as well.”
Eckard first met Davis when she was an undergraduate student at UNC Charlotte, and Davis became a role model and mentor as Eckard went on to obtain a graduate degree and then joined Davis as a colleague in the Department of English.
Davis continues to add to her long list of books, book chapters, book reviews and scholarly articles, with over 200 publications to her name.
In 2025, Davis and Troutman-Jordan published “Issues in developing multilingual graphics-based digital caregiver guides for dementia care” in “Discourse, Context & Media” and “Stress and Its Impact on Older Adults” in “Geriatrics, Lifestyle Medicine and Healthy Aging.”
“As a pioneering scholar and advocate, she has shaped national and international conversations on language, narrative and aging, bringing attention to the lived experience of older adults in ways that inform both research and practice,” said Troutman-Jordan.
Mentorship and community impact
Davis has a long history of community outreach focused on promoting positive and effective communication and engagement between vulnerable groups and teachers, aides and caregivers.
This work includes previous mentorship of K12 teachers and teaching assistants in the Charlotte-Mecklenburg School District at Metro School as well as healthcare aides and caregivers working with Charlotte’s elderly population at Magnolia Memory Care.
“For decades, Dr. Davis has been a visionary leader in the Charlotte-Mecklenburg region and beyond, dedicating her career to advancing communication, equity and care for vulnerable populations — particularly older adults and those living with dementia,” said Troutman-Jordan.
Davis has successfully translated her academic research into practice by providing extensive support to formal and informal caregivers through in-person training and the creation of developmental materials.
“She is constantly working at making life better and most successful for everyone,” said Connie G. Rothwell, former senior lecturer of English. “She researches and publishes and presents and converses so that the everyday people, the boots on the ground people, will have a better life with the people they love and work for.”
Davis has made a significant impact on everyone she has interacted with directly or indirectly through her teaching, outreach, research and mentorship. Although she retired from teaching in 2022 at the age of 82, Davis continues to mentor through her community work and collaborations with research partners.
“Mentoring is a way of being for Boyd — mentoring colleagues, students, community members, teachers and caregivers,” said Barbara Edwards, Ph.D., associate dean emeritus of the Cato College of Education. “For nearly 25 years, Boyd has mentored colleagues and healthcare professionals to better understand and communicate with patients who have dementia, and to share their breakthroughs with the larger community.”
The 8 Over 80 Award
The 8 Over 80: Lifetime of Purpose Awards Celebration took place on Nov. 11 at Quail Hollow Club, with Mayor Vi Lyles in attendance. The keynote was presented by Wendy A. Suzuki, Ph.D., professor of neural science and psychology and dean of the College of Arts and Science at New York University.
Suzuki’s research focuses on the brain’s power to change, investigating how aerobic exercise boosts learning, memory and higher cognition. She is the bestselling author of the books “Good Anxiety” (Atria Books, 2021) and “Healthy Brain, Happy Life” (Dey Street Books, 2015).
A portion of the event proceeds benefit The Shepherd’s Center of Charlotte (SCC), a local nonprofit that works to support and enrich the lives of older adults by connecting them to learning programs and services.
Davis was nominated for the award by current and former colleagues in the Gerontology Program in the College of Humanities & Earth and Social Sciences. Nominators include:
- Cynthia R. Hancock, Ph.D., director of the Gerontology Program and teaching professor in the Department of Sociology
- Dena Shenk, Ph.D., professor emerita of anthropology and founding director of the Gerontology Program
- Meredith Troutman-Jordan, Ph.D., PMHCNS-BC, professor of gerontology and nursing in the College of Health and Human Services
- Paula G. Eckard, Ph.D., professor in the Department of English
- Barbara Edwards, Ph.D., associate dean emeritus of the Cato College of Education
- Connie G. Rothwell, former senior lecturer of English
Many thanks to the nominating committee for their contributions to this article.
Cover image by Grant Baldwin Photography.