Victoria Bryan is coming home. Officially, she never really left.
Bryan, who resides in nearby Hixson, Tennessee, has been named the director of the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga Walker Center for Teaching and Learning, effective June 27. The announcement was made by Jerold Hale, UTC provost and senior vice chancellor for Academic Affairs.
Victoria Bryan
Bryan, a two-time alumna of UTC, is currently dean of the Honors College and Academic Enhancement at Cleveland State Community College—a position she has held since January 2020. She previously was a member of the Cleveland State English department faculty, director of the Honors College and interim dean of Arts, Humanities, Social Science and Education.
“I’ve lived kind of a blessed existence in academia for things to line up the way they have,” Bryan said. “When I was applying for the job, I was trying hard not to think about what a dream come true this would be in case it didn’t actually work out.
“But it did, and I’m so excited to be able to do work like this that really matters in a town that I really love.”
Bryan first came to Chattanooga during her high school years. Her father, Mac, is a football coach, serving as an offensive line coach for UTC during the 2001-2003 seasons.
After coaching high school football in North Carolina for the last four years, Mac Bryan was recently named the new head coach at nearby Lakeview-Fort Oglethorpe (Georgia) High School.
Bryan graduated magna cum laude from UTC with a bachelor’s degree in English and American language and literature in 2007 and a master’s degree in English in 2009. She went on to earn a Ph.D. from the University of Mississippi in 2014.
“Chattanooga is what I claim as home; it’s the place I’ve lived the longest,” Bryan said.
“My time at UTC was the first time in my life where I felt like I belonged somewhere and that my work could make a big difference. So UTC has a really special place in my heart, and I’m excited to be coming back and contributing to the campus in a different way than I did before.”
The WCTL director serves as a teacher-scholar to provide leadership, coordination and direction for faculty; organizational and learning development programs to promote research-based instructional excellence; and enhance student learning. The position provides leadership for the design, development and implementation of a wide range of initiatives in the areas of teaching and learning, including faculty and student programs and functions that provide support to improve the learning process, the integration of technology into the classroom and the improvement of learning across the academy.
As dean of the Honors College and Academic Enhancement, Bryan oversaw multiple departments on the Cleveland State campus, including the library, advising services and the Center of Dynamic Instruction—the institution’s teaching and learning center. She also was heavily involved in Cleveland State’s Quality Enhancement and Strategic Enrollment Management plans.
“It’s interesting that we found her quite literally in our own backyard,” Hale said. “Victoria was an outstanding candidate and will be a terrific appointment.
“What impressed us during the search was the management experience and scholarship that she brings. Faculty members want someone who understands the breadth of the faculty role, which she does. She also brings the scholarship of teaching and learning with her publications, and that is going to serve her very well in this position.”
