Graduate program coordinators Sherry Boyd and Rebekah Awood have each worked in UM-Dearborn’s College of Engineering and Computer Science for years. They have the same role at the college, though they are responsible for different programs, and their offices are mere steps apart.

Awood, a 2001 alum who started working at UM-Dearborn in 2005, and Boyd, who started at CECS in 1998, are a good team. They love their students. They travel together. They spend holidays together. And they share a family bond.

They are mother and daughter. 

“I don’t call her ‘mom’ at work,” Awood said, smiling.

“But we are a lot alike. We are both detail-oriented, methodical and practice empathy. Of course, we love each other, but we genuinely like each other, too. I am fortunate to have that with my mom.” 

Awood said CECS graduate students, especially the international students, often see her mom as their mom, too. Boyd has attended a student’s wedding in Morocco. She met an alum’s new baby at Naamkaran, a Hindu baby-naming ceremony. And she listens when they come to her in difficult times — like health scares, domestic violence situations and financial hardships.

“Our job is to keep our students on track for graduation. But what we do here goes beyond academics,” Boyd said. “I have impressed upon all of my students that this is your life, and you need to make the choices for your life. Don’t let life happen to you. You have support and options, even when the situation feels impossible.”

Sitting at a table in her daughter’s office, Boyd, a mother of six (Awood is the oldest), talked about how instrumental supportive people have been in her own journey. 

“I had a friend who saved my life and my children’s lives,” she said. “This wonderful friend listened, she cared and she helped me escape from an abusive relationship. We are sitting here today because of her. One person who listens and advocates for you can make all the difference.”

Boyd married her ex-husband as a teenager and, through him, was a member of the Independent Fundamental Baptist church. She grew up in Michigan but moved out of state at his insistence, and he slowly separated her from parents, friends and family. They belonged to several IFB churches, including the First Baptist Church of Hammond, Indiana, which is featured in the 2023 HBO docuseries, “Let us Prey: A Ministry of Scandals.”

Boyd said she and the children were surrounded with messages of racism and sexism, as well as physical abuse. 

“When I voiced my concerns to church leaders, they told me to pray for him, to stop complaining and being bitter. I was told the worst thing possible for my children was divorce,” Boyd said. “I didn’t know to what extent he was physically abusing the children; he threatened them with more beatings if they told me. When I realized what was going on, I needed to leave. I needed to save my kids.” 

Sitting across from her mom, Awood recalls the day their new life began. “It was the summer before I turned 13. My mom woke me and said we were leaving. We snuck away. The abuse from my dad — physical, mental and emotional — was so bad that it’s hard for people to even comprehend what we’ve been through,” said Awood, her eyes welling with tears. 

“My mom got us away from that.” 

The morning Awood helped her mom gather their belongings and her five siblings, infant to age 10, they left their Indiana home and stayed with the aforementioned friend. That friend helped them make arrangements to move to Michigan, where Boyd’s parents lived.

Boyd said they also got support from Wayne County’s First Step, a domestic violence crisis center and shelter, and state resources from Michigan’s Department of Health and Human Services, which gave Boyd the help she needed to become independent.

“My mom and I are bonded. Not a trauma bond, but a close supportive one forged by fire,” Awood said. “ I think about how she must have felt as a parent in that situation. We are both very maternal. Family means everything to her and to us.”

In their new life, Awood says her mom was vocal about the importance of education: “She told us that we weren’t allowed to get married until we had earned a college degree. She saw how important it was in her own life.” 

Awood listened. She was admitted as an undergraduate to UM-Ann Arbor, but decided to enroll at UM-Dearborn. It was closer to home, and she liked the smaller size.

“Our campus feels so approachable and welcoming. It felt right and it was — I loved my time here,” said Awood, who did a study abroad trip to Valencia, Spain, worked as a student at the Early Childhood Education Center and has met people from all walks of life. 

“I was isolated for a large part of my childhood and grew up hearing about the importance of sameness. There was a lot of talk about white supremacy. That didn’t sit well with me, even as a child,” Awood said. 

“I got to see how wrong those racist teachings were when I was a student here. On campus, so many people from a variety of places and backgrounds came together. We helped each other with our goals. We cared for each other. Diversity is beautiful and it’s what makes us stronger.”

Hearing about her daughter’s positive experiences at UM-Dearborn, Boyd started looking for job opportunities on campus. In 1998, through a newspaper ad, she found one: A $12-per-hour temporary administration position in the UM-Dearborn Alumni Office. Boyd applied and was hired. 

“I saw it as a way to get in the door so they could get to know me,” she said.

Next, Boyd was hired for a position in CECS — her home for the past 27 years. Boyd’s role has evolved over the years to her current position as an automotive engineering and data science graduate student coordinator. 

After Awood earned her bachelor’s degree in 2001, she began working at a southwest Detroit nonprofit organization where she helped connect low-income families to child care and other resources. She enjoyed the job, but was concerned about the organization’s future due to a lack of state funding. 

So just as Awood inspired her mom to look for a job at UM-Dearborn because of her good experience as a student, Awood started to look for a position at the university because of her mom’s positive experience as an employee. Awood was hired as a mechanical engineering graduate student coordinator in 2005. 

She didn’t work directly with her mom until 2017, when CECS’ Department of Interdisciplinary Programs, where Boyd worked at the time, was dissolved and one of its programs was absorbed by the mechanical engineering department.

In Awood’s office, the two women are surrounded by photos of children — including Awood’s own children, Ben and Abby, and her nieces and nephews — as well as thank you cards from students. They are reminders of the rich life Awood and Boyd have built and the role UM-Dearborn has played in it.