CHARLESTON, W.Va. -- Microsoft executive Andrea L. Taylor didn't start tallying the number of her family members who graduated from Boston University until shortly after she was appointed to the school's board of trustees.

Taylor's father and mother graduated from Boston University's College of Fine Arts. Her sister and two uncles also are alums. Her former husband, too. 

"I'm standing on the shoulders of the ancestors who blazed the trail for me to go to BU," said Taylor, who spent eight years in Charleston as a youth and graduated from the former Charleston High School.

Taylor, director of Microsoft corporate giving in North America, was born in Cambridge, Mass. Her parents, both Charleston natives, were attending Boston University's graduate school at the time.

The family moved back to Charleston in 1956 and Taylor enrolled in the fifth grade at the former Mercer Elementary School.

"It was the same year schools were desegregated in West Virginia," said Taylor, who had attended integrated schools growing up in Boston.

After graduating from Charleston High, Taylor went to live in Boston and graduated from Boston University in 1968, the same year Martin Luther King Jr. was assassinated. King had received a doctoral degree in theology from Boston University 13 years earlier.  

Taylor began her career as a journalist, working as a reporter, producer and on-air host for newspapers and public television stations, including The Boston Globe and WGBH-TV in Boston.

Taylor later founded and directed the Ford Foundation's Media Fund, managing a $50 million budget that supported global media projects, including "Sesame Street" in China and South Africa, as well as the television series "Eyes on the Prize." She also was the former president of the Washington, D.C.-based Benton Foundation, vice president of the Education Development Center in Newton, Mass., and founder and managing partner of Davis Creek Capital, a media technology firm.

Taylor's path to becoming a Boston University trustee started in 2005, following the death of her mother, Della Hardman, who served as chairwoman of West Virginia State University's art department. An art gallery at WVSU is named after Hardman.

After retirement, Hardman moved to Martha's Vineyard, Mass., writing a column for the local newspaper, the Vineyard Gazette. To this day, Martha's Vineyard holds an annual "Della Hardman Day" celebration.

"She did a great job as a writer," Taylor said. "She was beloved by everybody."

In 2004, Hardman happened to meet President Barack Obama in Martha's Vineyard, months before Obama was elected to the U.S. Senate. Obama was vacationing with his family at the time.

"She said she met this young man, and everybody would keep an eye on him," Taylor recalled. "He definitely made an impression on her."

A Boston University trustee who lived on Martha's Vineyard visited Taylor in the weeks after Hardman's death.

The university had a special archive collection of African-American writers and artists. The trustee, Esther Hopkins, asked whether Taylor would be interested in donating her mother's papers.

CHARLESTON, W.Va. -- Microsoft executive Andrea L. Taylor didn't start tallying the number of her family members who graduated from Boston University until shortly after she was appointed to the school's board of trustees.

Taylor's father and mother graduated from Boston University's College of Fine Arts. Her sister and two uncles also are alums. Her former husband, too. 

"I'm standing on the shoulders of the ancestors who blazed the trail for me to go to BU," said Taylor, who spent eight years in Charleston as a youth and graduated from the former Charleston High School.

Taylor, director of Microsoft corporate giving in North America, was born in Cambridge, Mass. Her parents, both Charleston natives, were attending Boston University's graduate school at the time.

The family moved back to Charleston in 1956 and Taylor enrolled in the fifth grade at the former Mercer Elementary School.

"It was the same year schools were desegregated in West Virginia," said Taylor, who had attended integrated schools growing up in Boston.

After graduating from Charleston High, Taylor went to live in Boston and graduated from Boston University in 1968, the same year Martin Luther King Jr. was assassinated. King had received a doctoral degree in theology from Boston University 13 years earlier.  

Taylor began her career as a journalist, working as a reporter, producer and on-air host for newspapers and public television stations, including The Boston Globe and WGBH-TV in Boston.

Taylor later founded and directed the Ford Foundation's Media Fund, managing a $50 million budget that supported global media projects, including "Sesame Street" in China and South Africa, as well as the television series "Eyes on the Prize." She also was the former president of the Washington, D.C.-based Benton Foundation, vice president of the Education Development Center in Newton, Mass., and founder and managing partner of Davis Creek Capital, a media technology firm.

Taylor's path to becoming a Boston University trustee started in 2005, following the death of her mother, Della Hardman, who served as chairwoman of West Virginia State University's art department. An art gallery at WVSU is named after Hardman.

After retirement, Hardman moved to Martha's Vineyard, Mass., writing a column for the local newspaper, the Vineyard Gazette. To this day, Martha's Vineyard holds an annual "Della Hardman Day" celebration.

"She did a great job as a writer," Taylor said. "She was beloved by everybody."

In 2004, Hardman happened to meet President Barack Obama in Martha's Vineyard, months before Obama was elected to the U.S. Senate. Obama was vacationing with his family at the time.

"She said she met this young man, and everybody would keep an eye on him," Taylor recalled. "He definitely made an impression on her."

A Boston University trustee who lived on Martha's Vineyard visited Taylor in the weeks after Hardman's death.

The university had a special archive collection of African-American writers and artists. The trustee, Esther Hopkins, asked whether Taylor would be interested in donating her mother's papers.

"At the time, I was trying to figure out what to do with all the things my mother left behind," Taylor said. "She collected art, books, autographs, obituaries, photos, stamps, letters. If you ever met her, you became her friend, and you heard from her the rest of your life."

Taylor didn't hesitate to donate the items.

"My mother's collection fits very nicely," she said. "They took just about everything, and left just half a box of books. It was an insight into a whole generation."

Earlier this year, Hopkins retired from Boston University's Board of Trustees and nominated Taylor as a replacement. Taylor received a distinguished alumni award from the university's College of Communication last year.

She was appointed a Boston University trustee at the board's October meeting.

"Andrea's passion for education, her global perspective and her comprehensive understanding of new media are just three of the valuable assets she brings to the board," said board Chairman Robert Knox. "We look forward to a long and fruitful association with her."

In 2007, Taylor gave $10,000 to start a philanthropic fund at The Greater Kanawha Valley Foundation to promote education and entrepreneurship among African-American youth in the Kanawha Valley. The fund honors Taylor's maternal grandparents, Anderson H. Brown and Captolia Casey Brown.

The Browns were prominent local African-Americans who owned property on Shrewsbury Street, which before integration was the center of black civic and commercial life in Charleston. 

At Microsoft, Taylor manages the company's Unlimited Potential Community Technology Skills Program and Elevate America, a public-private partnership that offers free electronic-learning courses and certification exams.

Taylor also works closely with nonprofit groups, government agencies and businesses in the U.S. and Canada to provide work force training for youth, women, seniors and displaced workers.  

"Amid the economic downturn, many older workers were laid off, and they lack the skills to get new jobs," said Taylor, who splits her time between residences in Seattle and New York. "They're not nearly ready to retire. We as a company are trying to bridge that gap and help people realize their full potential."

Through its corporate giving program, which is separate from the Gates Foundation, Microsoft distributed $500 million worldwide last year in cash, software and employee matching gifts.

"I've been very privileged to be in philanthropy and have the opportunity to allocate such enormous resources to make a difference in the lives of people," Taylor said.

As a Boston University trustee, Taylor plans to help former students reconnect with the school, which has more than 250,000 alumni.

"I got more than my money's worth out of my education," Taylor said. "I'm serving as a trustee 40 years later, carrying a legacy forward. I could not have been here, if not for all those who were here before me."

Reach Eric Eyre at erice...@wvgazette.com or 304-348-4869.