At the very start of this summer, I had the privilege of visiting Bryant University and its President Ross Gittell. This was my first trip to Bryant, located in Smithfield, Rhode Island just fifty miles south of Boston and twelve miles north of Providence. President Gittell, in addition to being an accomplished economist and economic development expert, is a very good NECHE citizen — most recently chairing team visits to the Maine Higher Education System (the only state system NECHE accredits) and Fulbright University in Vietnam.
Founded in 1863, Bryant campus is bucolic and beautiful, sprawling across 450 acres. Bryant University features three schools: Business, Arts and Sciences, and Health Sciences, and one unique feature of its curriculum is that every student must major or minor in Business.
This singular focus on a Business education has served the university well and attracted a student body of nearly 4,000 students. Perhaps as a correlation, featured prominently in all institutional communications, is an impressive statistical “return on investment” in graduates’ future salaries. One example: Bryant’s Class of 2023 achieved the most substantial return on investment in university history (according to data compiled by its Office of Institutional Effectiveness and Strategy), with graduates earning a median starting salary of $72,500 within six months after graduation. That’s an impressive 6.6% increase from the previous year’s record-breaking earnings of $68,000!
Additionally, 99% of Class of 2023 graduates were either employed or pursuing advanced degrees within six months of commencement — every parent’s fondest dream come true.
Here’s another impressive statistic: Bryant ranks 7th of 578 private colleges in Harvard’s Opportunity Insights Project that measures economic social mobility. To top it off, the Class of 2023 is also closing the gender wage gap, with a female-to-male average earnings ratio of 94%, compared to 82% nationwide.
For a relatively small independent college, Bryant punches well above its weight, offering Division I athletic programs in which 25% of Bryant students participate. That ethos permeates the campus. Walking alongside President Gittell, I encountered a strapping young man wearing a Bryant lacrosse sweatshirt. Ross asked the athlete, whom he knew by name, if he could share something about his experience at Bryant. Chad’s answer couldn’t have been a more perfect marketing message for Bryant than if he’d been coached (which Ross swore he wasn’t).
Chad Vasquenza is a fifth-year student who just finished playing his final year of lacrosse and is completing a master’s degree, on top of his baccalaureate. In one of his business classes Chad worked on an experiential project for a tool company, and when an executive from that company came to campus to hear the presentation, he offered this young man a full-time job that he will begin in just a few months. President Gittell had a very big smile on his face as he assured me that’s precisely the magic of a Bryant education.
I drove away from Bryant musing that this university is just one more example of the unique and impressive diversity of NECHE’s institutions …confidently agile, innovative, and student-focused.
