Loury Floyd, Ph.D., receives statewide award for teacher education

Loury Ollison Floyd, Ph.D., associate provost for faculty affairs, assessment and accreditation at Lenoir-Rhyne University, received the 2026 Outstanding Contributions to Teacher Education Award from the North Carolina Association of Colleges for Teacher Education (NCACTE) on Sept. 23.

Presented annually at NCACTE’s Fall Forum, the award recognizes contributions to educator preparation across North Carolina. NCACTE represents more than 50 member institutions and serves as the state’s leading advocacy organization for high-quality educator preparation.

“The quality of educator preparation matters because the educators we prepare change lives,” Floyd said in accepting the award.

Floyd began her career as a special education teacher and has served in educator preparation at three North Carolina institutions — North Carolina A&T State University, UNC Pembroke and Lenoir-Rhyne. Her roles have included faculty member, program coordinator, department chair, associate dean, dean, assistant provost and interim provost.

For more than 20 years, Floyd has also been active in state and national professional organizations. She previously served as president of NCACTE and currently serves as chair-elect of the American Association of Colleges for Teacher Education (AACTE).

“Leadership cannot simply be about finding our own seat at the table,” she said. “We have a responsibility to create a seat for someone else.”

At Lenoir-Rhyne, Floyd’s work includes helping secure the $1.2 million National Science Foundation Robert Noyce Teacher Scholarship Program grant, which is currently supporting the preparation of secondary STEM teachers for high-need schools.

For Floyd, the importance of preparing educators reaches back to her childhood in Mesic, North Carolina, the smallest incorporated community in Pamlico County.

“It was in the public schools of rural Pamlico County that educators saw possibility in me and helped me believe that college was something I could actually do,” she said. “I went on to become the first person in my family to graduate from college.”

That experience, she said, has made educator preparation deeply personal.

“I know what can happen when a little girl from a very small community encounters educators who help her see possibilities she has not yet imagined for herself.”

In accepting the award, Floyd looked beyond her own recognition to the educators still being prepared and the students they will eventually serve.

“Somewhere in North Carolina today, there is a child who will need an extraordinary teacher. There is a rural school searching for a special education teacher. There is a beginning teacher who will need a mentor who reminds them that they can do this,” Floyd said. “We prepare that person. That is our work. And that is our privilege.”