A Radford University expert in the analysis of skeletal remains today will receive a national U.S. Professors of the Year Award.

According to the university, Donna Boyd is the fourth faculty member from a Virginia institution to win the award, which is sponsored by the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Learning and the Council for Advancement and Support of Education.

The prize was created in 1981 to honor teaching excellence and includes $5,000 for each of the four national recipients.

Boyd won in the category for universities and colleges that offer a master's as their highest degree.

"There is absolutely no doubt that Dr. Boyd is an exceptional instructor," RU President Penelope Kyle said in a statement.

The four national winners will be honored today in a ceremony in Washington, D.C.

The other winners are from Reed College in Portland, Ore.; Cuyahoga Community College in Cleveland; and the University of California, Berkeley.

Boyd has taught at Radford since 1989. Along with her husband, Cliff Boyd, also an anthropology professor at RU, she founded her school's laboratory for physical anthropology and archaeology.

In a statement issued by the university, Boyd said, "I take this as a symbol of all the excellent teaching that goes on here [at Radford] every day by people who haven't received awards."

Earlier this year, Boyd won a Virginia Outstanding Faculty Award from the State Council of Higher Education for Virginia.

She recently became qualified to provide forensic expertise following national disasters, after passing a training program from the federal Department of Homeland Security. Boyd also is an adjunct member of the Virginia medical examiner's office. She often is called to help analyze skeletal remains in homicide cases, according to RU.