Regis Louise Boyle
American educator (1912–2007)
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Regis Louise Boyle (April 11, 1912 – September 24, 2007) was an American educator, best known for teaching journalism classes and advising student publications at the secondary level.
Regis Louise Boyle | |
|---|---|
| Born | April 11, 1912 Washington, D.C., U.S. |
| Died | September 24, 2007 (age 95) Bethesda, Maryland, U.S. |
| Occupation | Educator |
Early life and education
Boyle was born in Washington, D.C., the daughter of Charles Weems Boyle and Elma E. Payne Boyle.[1] Her father was a lawyer who worked for the USDA.[2][3] She graduated from Trinity College in 1933.[4] She earned a master's degree[5] and completed doctoral studies in literature at Catholic University of America. Her 1934 master's thesis was about Walt Whitman's Leaves of Grass,[6] and her dissertation was about the novels of E. D. E. N. Southworth.[7]
Career
Teaching
Although she never had a paid job as a reporter or newspaper editor, Boyle taught journalism classes for many years, and advised student publications at high schools and colleges, including at Eastern High School from 1942 to 1955,[8][9] Woodrow Wilson High School, and Walt Whitman High School.[10] Starting in 1947,[11][12] she was founder and director of an annual summer Journalism Institute for high schoolers, held at Catholic University.[13][14] She also taught journalism and yearbook courses at the University of Maryland.[7][15] In 1974, she was described as "one of the country's leading authorities on high school journalism."[16]
Leadership
In 1944, Boyle was elected president of the Quill and Scroll, an international honor society for school journalists.[17][18] She was president of the Educational Association of Washington,[19] served on the executive board of the Maryland Scholastic Press Association,[20] and was vice-president of the National Association of Journalism Directors. She was elected national president of the Trinity College Alumnae Association in 1955.[19] Boyle was also active in Catholic charities, as president of the National Christ Child Society, and as a dame of the Sovereign Military Order of Malta.[7] Boyle was an officer in the District of Columbia chapter of the International Federation of Catholic Alumnae.[21]
Honors
In 1964, Boyle was recognized as an outstanding alumna of Catholic University.[22] In 1970, she was one of the first recipients of the NSPA Pioneer Award, given by the National Scholastic Press Association to journalism educators.[23] In 1988, a former student made a $10,000 donation to the University of Maryland's journalism program, in her honor.[24]
Publications
Personal life
Boyle had a longtime partner, Joseph Roney, who died in 1974. His three children were described as her survivors when she died in 2007, at the age of 95, in Bethesda, Maryland.[7]