News

Forensic science is known as the application of science to criminal and civil laws, but most people do not realize there is a large business component to it all – the business of forensics. In fact, West Virginia University has the world’s leading experts in this particular area of the field. This includes Dr. Paul Speaker, an associate professor of finance at the College of Business and Economics.

When we last heard from Sarah-Anne Brault in the 2012-2013 academic year, she was just about to graduate with a 4.0 GPA, earning dual degrees in economics and finance from the West Virginia University College of Business and Economics. So, what has the two-time WVU Student Athlete of the Week been up to since then? You know, just tirelessly preparing for the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio. 

Naomi Boyd, chair of the finance department and associate professor, has been with the College of Business and Economics for eight years. Below is a Q&A about her life story: how she came into her career, what she loves about teaching and the future plans she has in store for B&E and its students.

What did you do before coming to B&E?
As a young adult, I had trained for a career in ballet and majored in dance at the University of Texas at Austin, before my career took a different turn. When graduate school for my husband took us away from Austin, I got a job working for the Economic Development Company for the City of Lubbock, Market Lubbock, where I worked in business attraction and recruitment.  One of the companies we brought to Lubbock, an Australian-based firm called SupaChill, hired me to develop a partnership with Texas Tech University. I started back part-time getting my MBA, and ended up, after a semester, deciding to pursue my graduate studies full-time. When my husband and I moved to Washington D.C., I taught at George Washington University during my doctoral program, while working as a student scholar for the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission.