Thelma Bryan:  

Upon graduation from Baltimore¿s Eastern High School, Dr. T. J. Bryan enrolled at Morgan State College, located in the same city, as a first-generation student. From a family of meager means, she was concurrently a full-time employee at the National Security Agency and a full-time student. In 1970, she graduated from Morgan State as valedictorian of her class with a B.A. degree in English. Realizing she wanted to accomplish more in life, Dr. Bryan pursued graduate education at Morgan State, where she earned a master¿s degree in English. As a Ford Foundation National Fellow, she enrolled at the University of Maryland at College Park, where she earned a Ph.D. in English language and literature in 1982. After earning her doctoral degree, Dr. Bryan joined the English faculty at Baltimore¿s Coppin State College, where she taught developmental English, English composition, women¿s literature, and African-American literature. Also, while at Coppin, she planned and implemented a successful honors program and established one of the nation¿s fourteen original Ronald McNair Post-Baccalaureate Achievement Programs. Her enthusiasm for encouraging students to excel, her ability to work collaboratively with colleagues and constituents, and her talents and skills in grantsmanship and in marshaling resources to achieve goals led to promotions to Department Chair, Dean of the Honors Division, and Dean of Arts and Sciences at Coppin State. In 1998, she was selected by the thirteen-campus University System of Maryland to become its Associate Vice Chancellor for Academic Affairs. In this role, she focused on faculty-affairs, academic-policy, and educational-equity issues. She is the primary author of Miles to Go: Maryland and The Road Taken¿two works that led to legislation in 2000 and 2001, to the creation of a governor¿s task force, and to the passage of legislation in 2002 that provided a college-intervention program and guaranteed financial assistance to low-income students. She also wrote the 1998 USM minority-achievement plan and was the key architect of the 2001 USM minority-achievement plan. In 2002, the Pennsylvania State System of Higher Education recruited Dr. Bryan to the position of Vice Chancellor for Academic and Student Affairs. She served as chief academic officer and chief student affairs officer for the system, which is composed of the Commonwealth¿s 14-state-owned universities. In this role, she reviewed all proposals for new academic programs, oversaw reviews of existing academic and student-support units, developed and revised policies, and managed faculty-development activities. A year later, she made history when she became the first woman to serve as Chancellor of FSU¿and the first African-American woman to lead a UNC System institution. After Dr. Bryan¿s arrival at FSU, the institution progressed in numerous ways. ¿ Enrollment grew from 5,329 students in fall 2003 to 6,692 students in fall 2007. ¿ The student-to-faculty ratio improved from 23:1 to 22:1 as a result of the hiring of more than 100 new faculty members since July 2003. ¿ The percentage of full-time faculty with doctoral or first-professional degrees rose from 69% when she arrived to ninety percent of full-time faculty members in 2007. ¿ Faculty and staff salaries rose during her chan...Expand for more