Suffolk University has announced Trina Bryant, Ed.D. as its new director of its Center for Community Engagement. Bryant brings more than 15 years of experience in teaching and higher edleadership to the role.
“I love being able to help students find their calling, their purpose,” says Bryant.
Bryant’s through line began in South Africa, where, as a Northeastern grad student, she was part of the team that launched the Oprah Winfrey Leadership Academy for Girls. Back in Boston, for five years she taught AP history and led a winning Model UN program at Hyde Park High School’s Social Justice Academy. For the past decade, she held senior leadership roles in both academic and student affairs at Eastern Nazarene College in Quincy — while earning her Ed.D. in higher education leadership from Regis College.
At Suffolk, Bryant is looking ahead, including managing the 2025 recertification process for the Carnegie Foundation — a comprehensive, campus-wide survey documenting the full sweep of Suffolk’s community engagement and impact. Also on her list: expanding Suffolk’s popular Alternative Spring Break program to include more international service-learning travel, starting with a May 2025 trip to Ghana.
As a two-time Fulbright-Hays Scholar who has traveled to four continents, Bryant knows firsthand how much travel and service have to teach — how they can plunge us into wildly different communities and cultures while reinforcing all we have in common. “The bottom line,” she says, “is that it brings us all together. I want to provide students with more of these opportunities to explore, reflect, serve, and find their purpose.”
