Robert Bryant Jr. has been named the Coordinator for Alumni and Community Relations at the Arkansas School for Mathematics, Sciences and the Arts.
Bryant will serve as the institution’s liaison for its alumni and friends. He will work closely with the Association for Alumni and Friends of ASMSA (AAFA), which is comprised of all graduates, attendees, and past faculty and staff of ASMSA. The AAFA is led by a group of volunteer alumni. The new position is part of the Office of Institutional Advancement
Bryant may be familiar to some alumni. He started his career in education while serving as a residential mentor at ASMSA from 1995 to 2000. Residential mentors live in the residential building with the students around the clock.
“The early days were really fun,” Bryant said. “We had managed to attract a dream team of residential educators. We had several with experience in the Fulbright program at the University of Arkansas. Others had experience at other institutions. The school was able to benefit from the great residential life staff. We were able to put on some fun and entertaining programs.”
He left ASMSA to serve in a similar role as a residential counselor at the Missouri Academy of Science, Mathematics and Computing, a former peer institution that was located on the campus of Northwest Missouri State University in Maryville, Mo. He served six years as a residential counselor before becoming the school’s director of enrollment for 11 years.
Bryant has also served as an educator and counselor in the Arkansas Governor’s School and the American Legion Arkansas Boys State programs. He currently serves as assistant director of the Boys State program. He spent 12 years as head resident and taught social and personal development for 12 years at the Governor’s School.
While he has kept up with some alumni over the years, returning to ASMSA is a special opportunity to reconnect with many of the graduates from his first tenure. Since Bryant started his new position on Jan. 4, he has received many notes of congratulation on social media, he said.
“One of my former students told me that ‘I can’t wait to tell my mom that I talked to you,’” Bryant said. “As an enrollment officer you realize two parts. You’re recruiting the student and recruiting the parent. So when they can attach a name and actual personality, it allows you to build that relationship. It’s been wonderful hearing from them.”
He wants to use those relationships to help alumni reconnect with ASMSA if they haven’t done so already. To do that, the school must offer alumni opportunities to give back to the institution that benefit current students as well, he said.
“We can bring back alumni to speak to students about their experiences. They can give students insight on what their career is all about. They can connect with each other. We can bring them back home to mentor current students,” Bryant said.
“What they can do is enhance what we’re doing now. It would be great for students to have alumni they can reach out to who have the same experience. Something like that could be great.”
He said there is a common theme that ties all the alumni together — their experience at ASMSA. They all chose to leave their home school to come this program to face academic rigors unlike any they had experienced. They accomplished their goal to move on and further their education, he said.
Bryant joining the Office of Institutional Advancement team is an important addition, said Dr. Sara Brown, director of institutional advancement.
“I am very excited that Robert is part of our advancement department,” Brown said. “His previous tenure with our school and personal connections with many of our alumni and stakeholders make Robert an asset to our department.
“This new role provides ASMSA with an opportunity to build programming, activities, and services that will allow alumni to reconnect with us in new and unique ways. Our alumni are essential members of our community of learning and play an important role in supporting our students to achieve our mission.”
Bryant may be reached at bryantr@asmsa.org or 501.622.5316.