Former HBCU Dean Named To Postsecondary Education Post
An HBCU graduate and former dean of a Black college is joining the upper ranks of the Bush administration’s Education Department team.
Wilbert Bryant was named deputy assistant secretary in the Education Department’s Office of Postsecondary Education, which oversees student financial aid programs, student loans, TRIO programs and Title III Higher Education Act services. Education Secretary Roderick Paige made the appointment last month, saying Bryant will help develop policies and supervise college-level programs.
Bryant would be the second-ranking person in the higher education office. The White House previously announced its intention to nominate Sally Stroup, a former Capitol Hill aide, for the long-vacant post of assistant secretary for postsecondary education. Stroup is awaiting confirmation on Capitol Hill.
Most recently, Bryant was Virginia’s secretary of education under Republican Gov. James Gilmore III. From 1994 to 1998, he was deputy secretary of education for another Republican governor of Virginia, George Allen.
Bryant received a bachelor’s from Florida A&M University and a master’s in education from Howard University. Following a 28-year Army career, Bryant served as vice president of student affairs at Virginia Union University, where he supervised student activities, resident life, health services, career planning and student counseling, among other services.
As Virginia’s secretary of education, Bryant managed policy development and budgets for K-12 schools, vocational/technical programs, community colleges and baccalaureate institutions. As deputy secretary in Virginia, he played key roles in developing the state’s standardized testing program and higher K-12 education standards.
Bryant is a Vietnam veteran who retired as a colonel in 1990.
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