The Transcultural Nursing Society, Board of Trustees,
Lifetime Achievement 2025 Award
Presented at the 51st Annual Conference of the TCNS in Portland, Maine
Dr. Joyceen Boyle PhD, MPH, RN, FTNSS
It is such an honor to be asked by the TCNS Board of Directors to present the TCNS Life-time Achievement Award to my mentor, colleague, and dear friend Dr. Joyceen Boyle. Dr. Boyle is internationally known for her role in the inception and development of the Transcultural Nursing Society. She was a charter member and first president of TCNS and one of the first Editors of the Journal of TCNS.
I met Dr. Boyle in 2003 when I traveled to Tucson, AZ to interview for the PhD program at the University of Arizona. At that time, Joyceen was professor and Academic Dean of Nursing at U of A. When I walked into her office and saw multiple editions of the award-winning textbook, Transcultural Concepts in Nursing Care framed and arranged on her wall. When I learned she was the co-author of this book I had just read and studied in a Transcultural Nursing course at KUMC I was quite surprised. I was even more surprised and thrilled she offered to mentor me in the program
To me, Joyceen is a Frontier Woman. She is strong, bold, and brave. She was born and raised in the Western US in rural Utah. Her life and career have been marked by work on multiple Frontiers crossing cultural, national, and international borders. She received a BSN at Brigham Young University in 1961. As a young nurse she worked for the Nevada Indian Health Service in Utah, Nevada, and Idaho serving native populations. She earned a master’s in public health from the University of California in Berkely in 1971, and her PhD at the University of Utah in Salt Lake City in 1982. She was one of Dr. Madeleine Leininger’s first PhD students and a member of the first PhD class at the University of Utah.
Dr. Boyle was inspired by her mentor Jody Glittenberg’s work in Guatemala and decided complete her dissertation research there investigating the effect of the brutal 36-year Civil War on the population. In 1978, she and her young son, John, drove 7 days from Utah to Guatemala where they lived for 3 years in squatter colonies on Frontier of the Western Guatemalan Highlands. During this time, she documented the effect of the brutal Guatemalan Civil War that resulted in the disappearance and forcible displacement of over 200,000 Guatemalans. Marty Douglas recalls meeting Joyceen in 1982 at one of the first TCNS conferences where she was moved by Joyceen’s presentation of her experiences of the women and children living in poverty and violence. during this period.
Her experiences in Guatemala led to her 40-year civil rights work with asylum seekers from Center American Countries. In 1983, Joyceen joined Amnesty International USA as a country Specialist for Guatemala, El Salvador, and Honduras. She wrote petitions to the courts for asylum seekers trying to flee Central America for domestic violence and persecution for LGBTQ identities and political beliefs.
In addition to her position as Associate Dean at the University of Arizona, Dr. Boyle previously held an appointment as Academic Dean of the Medical College of Georgia. She has transmitted her passion and committed to vulnerable populations to all of her PhD students. In one of her classes, we were trained as reviewers for the Journal of TCN. This is how I became involved in the Journal.
Today Joyceen lives close to the US 60 miles from the US Mexico Border in Tucson, Arizona. In retirement, she has continued her Frontier work with Amnesty International USA and volunteered with local not-for-profits serving asylees and refugees crossing the US-Mexico border. In addition, she is always rescuing displaced cats. Sometimes, I have the opportunity to play golf with Joyceen and enjoy a glass of wine in her beautiful desert garden.
As a Frontier woman and true ethnographer, she has immersed herself into the lives and stories of people on the margins. She has used her knowledge and position as a voice for those who lack a voice and power in this world. She has transmitted this to her students and colleagues at the TCNS. Everyone who meets Joyceen is inspired by her strength, wisdom, and resolve to support and protect those on the margins with little or no voice. I feel very fortunate to be part of her “Inner Circle” and honor her with this TCNS Lifetime Achievement Award. I am very sorry Joyceen could not attend this conference this year, but I understand this presentation is being recording to share with her. Help me give a big applause for all of the pioneering work Dr. Joyceen Boyle has done in TCN Society.
Martha B. Baird, PhD, PMH-CNS, FTNSS
Director of TCNS Scholars
October 30, 2025