Inspired to be a teacher by her aunt, who taught American history and government, Nancy G. Boyer, PhD, retired as an English as a second language (ESL) instructor at Golden West College in Huntington Beach, California, in 2020. First joining the college in 1991, she also spent over two decades as chair of her department. She previously taught ESL at Pasadena City College from 1990 to 1991, Kuwait University from 1984 to 1990, Arkansas State University from 1983 to 1984 and Brigham Young University from 1979 to 1983. Earlier in her career, she was an ESL instructor with Church College of Western Samoa and the Briam Institute of the American Cultural Center in Madrid.
Embarking on her studies with a Bachelor of Arts in Spanish from Oregon State University in 1972, Dr. Boyer first considered teaching Spanish before settling on English and earning her Master of Arts in teaching ESL from Brigham Young University in 1976. Continuing her studies concurrently with her career, she obtained her Doctor of Philosophy in intercultural education from the University of Southern California in 1998. In order to keep abreast of developments in her field, she remains affiliated with the TESOL International Association and CATESOL.
Above all her professional accomplishments, Dr. Boyer considers the most gratifying part of her career to be the students who keep in touch and come back to see her. When she retired she opened her office to her students — one at a time due to COVID-19 — to allow them to take any of the books from her shelf as a parting gift. She hopes volunteer at the university in the future and continue to work with some of her former students. For her years of excellence, she was presented with the prestigious Albert Nelson Marquis Lifetime Achievement Award in 2020.
In her retirement, Dr. Boyer enjoys traveling, quilting, gardening, investing, sailing, doing genealogy research, and attending her local book club. She is also an avid health junkie and goes bicycling for 5.5 miles every day, averaging 33 miles a week. Recently, she began volunteering with the Golden West College Patrons. In order to broaden her skillset for this work, she took courses with the Online Trading Academy in order to learn how to trade options to help raise money for scholarship for students at Golden West.
