Faculty & Staff

R.T. is in his fiftieth year of providing athletic training services for The University of West Alabama.  He currently serves as Director of Athletic Training and Sports Medicine for the UWA Athletic Training & Sports Medicine Center, Program Director for the CAATE accredited athletic training undergraduate and graduate programs, and as Chair and Distinguished Professor in the Department of Kinesiology. Beginning in August 2017 he was also named as Chair of the newly established School of Health Sciences and Human Performance.

A licensed athletic trainer and emergency medical technician, Dr. Floyd is a certified member of numerous professional organizations including the National Athletic Trainers’ Association (NATA), the National Strength and Conditioning Association and the Athletic Equipment Managers’ Association.  He also retains active membership in the American College of Sports Medicine, the American Orthopaedic Society for Sports Medicine, the American Osteopathic Academy of Sports Medicine and the American Baseball Biomechanics Society.  In 2018 he completed 16 consecutive years of service on the National Athletic Trainers’ Association Research and Education Foundation Board of Directors culminating in four years as president after serving in various positions on the board since 2002.  He previously represented the Southeast Athletic Trainers Association (SEATA) and District IX of the NATA as District Director to the NATA Board of Directors from 2004 to 2012.  In 2021, he completed a four year term on the NCAA Committee on Competitive Safeguards and Medical Aspects of Sports. Also in 2021, he began a three-year term on the Advisory Council to the Alabama Board of Athletic Trainers and Alabama Board of Medical Examiners.

Floyd served as the Head Athletic Trainer for the Blue-Gray All-Star Classic in his native Montgomery from 1977 through 2001, after spending two years on the annual event’s athletic training staff.  He is a 1974 graduate of Lowndes Academy, where he worked as an all-sports athletic trainer for four years, before earning a B.S. and M.A.T. in Physical Education from UWA in 1980 and 1982, as well as an Ed.D. in Human Performance Studies from the University of Alabama in 1995.

Floyd was named to the UWA Athletic Hall of Fame in 2001 and tabbed an “Outstanding Young Men of America” in 1982, 1983, 1984 and 1986.  He was presented the Most Distinguished Athletic Trainer Award by the NATA in 2003 and received the organization’s Athletic Trainer Service Award in 1996.  He was inducted into the NATA Hall of Fame in 2013.  He received the District IX Award for Outstanding Contribution to the field of Athletic Training by SEATA in 1990 and the Award of Merit in 2001 before being inducted into the SEATA Hall of Fame in 2008.  In 2004, he was inducted into the Alabama Athletic Trainers’ Association Hall of Fame.  In 2007, he received the NATA Sayers “Bud” Miller Distinguished Educator Award.  The NATA Foundation recognized him with the Volunteer Service Award in 2011.  He was named to Who’s Who Among America’s Teachers in 1996, 2000, 2004, and 2005.  In 1996 he was presented the UWA Achievement Award by the University of West Alabama National Alumni Association.  In 1997, the UWA Faculty and Board of Trustees recognized Floyd for outstanding achievement in scholarship, teaching, and leadership by presenting him with a Loraine McIlwain Bell Trustee Professorship.  In 2012, he was presented the Great Minds Award by the UWA Phi Kappa Phi Honor Society and the Nellie Rose McCrory Service Excellence Award by UWA.  In 2014, he was inducted into the Society of the Golden Key at UWA and was selected as the first recipient of the UWA Distinguished Professorship.  Upon completion of its expansion in 2014, the athletic training facility was named the R.T. Floyd Athletic Training & Sports Medicine Center by the UWA Board of Trustees.  In 2018, the NATA Research & Education Foundation presented Floyd with its Lifetime Contribution Award.  Floyd received the 2020 Tim Kerin Award for Excellence and in 2021 the American Sports Medicine Institute honored him by naming their new athletic training residency program as the R.T. Floyd ASMI Athletic Training Residency Program.

Previously, Floyd served as President of the UWA Faculty Senate and completed three terms as President of the Alabama Council of University Faculty Presidents.  After serving several years on the Higher Education Partnership Board of Directors, he became chair in 2013.  He is also author of the textbook, “Manual of Structural Kinesiology”, now in its 22nd edition and co-author of “Kinesiology for Manual Therapies.”

Floyd is married to the former Lisa Neville of Butler.  They have four children, Robert Thomas, Jeanna, Rebecca, and Kate.