Nicholls alumnus Glynn Boyd, WGNO ABC 26 television newsman, will be the principal speaker for the fall commencement ceremony Saturday, Dec. 16 in Stopher Gym. The ceremony will be held at 10 a.m. for graduates of the College of Business Administration, the College of Nursing and Allied Health and the Chef John Folse Culinary Institute, and at 2 p.m. Boyd will speak to graduates of University College and the College of Arts and Sciences.
“It is the ultimate honor to be speaking at Nicholls,” Boyd said. “When I received the E-mail asking me if I would speak, there was no hesitation to say yes.”
Boyd is originally from Boutte and graduated from Hahnville High School.
Boyd first attended Nicholls in the spring of 1981 on a partial basketball scholarship and played for two semesters.
He stopped playing basketball after realizing he wanted to focus on his schoolwork and his major, which was communication arts, which is now known as mass communication.
Boyd said Alfred Delahaye, professor-emeritus of journalism at Nicholls, along with broadcasting instructors Bob Blazier and Ron Simeral, were some of his mentors at Nicholls.
“Boyd was a quiet student and did good work,” Delahaye said.
Delahaye said he tried to encourage his students and influence them to excel.
“You never know when something you might say to students will influence them,” Delahaye said.
As a student Boyd was involved in the Nicholls Television Workshop, was a Nicholls radio personality for KVFG (now KNSU) and did an internship at WDSU Television in New Orleans.
Boyd said he enjoyed his experience at Nicholls and got the hands-on experience he needed.
“Nicholls prepared me for a career in broadcast journalism, even when I was a freshman,” Boyd said.
After graduating from Nicholls in 1984 with a Bachelor of Arts degree, Boyd moved to Biloxi, Miss.; Lafayette; Montgomery, Ala.; Baton Rouge and then joined the ABC affiliate in Houston, Texas, in April 1993 to pursue a career in television news reporting.
Boyd married Nancy Parker of Opelika, Ala., who was an anchor at Channel 9 in Baton Rouge, Oct. 8, 1994. Since Boyd was working in Houston at the time, the couple had a commuter marriage for two years until Boyd moved to WGNO ABC 26 in New Orleans in 1995.
In 1997, Boyd won a regional Emmy Award in Miami, Fla., for “Where is Paris?”, a story in which the ABC26 news team found a missing toddler.
Boyd has been an anchor at WGNO for the last 11 years and said he enjoys working in New Orleans.
“This is the greatest news market because so much happens here; I’m never doing the same thing,” Boyd said.
Boyd and Parker have been married 12 years and have three children. Their son Parker is six, and twins Piper and Pierce are two years old.
Some other stories Boyd has covered include the racketeering trial for former Governor Edwin Edwards, Edwards’ fourth run for governor against David Duke and Hurricanes Georges, Juan, Elena and Frederick.
