Dr. Gerard Bryant has served as the Athletic Department's Faculty Athletics Representative (FAR) since 2014. His main responsibility is being the student-athlete's advocate on campus. The role was created because NCAA rules prohibit athletic department personnel from having direct contact with faculty members to avoid the appearance of influencing students' grades. Instead, it falls to a neutral person, i.e. the FAR, to work with instructors to facilitate resolution of the students' academic issues. The National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) requires each of its member institutions to appoint a FAR who must be on the faculty or administrative staff and may not hold a position in the athletics department.
In 2018, Dr. Bryant was named to the NCAA DIII Management Council at the NCAA Convention in Indianapolis, IN. The Management Council handles the implementation of policies adopted by the NCAA's Board of Governors and Division III Presidents Council. Reporting directly to the President's Council, its 21 members, who hail from institutions and athletic conferences from throughout the United States, are elected on a rotating basis, with four to six members being picked each year.
Dr. Bryant is currently the Director of the Counseling Services Center at the College. He began this position in August 2014 after working for 22 years for the Federal Bureau of Prisons. He started his career in corrections at the United States Penitentiary in Lewisburg, Pennsylvania as a Staff Psychologist and was subsequently promoted to Chief Psychologist at two institutions, Metropolitan Detention Center in Brooklyn, New York and USP Lewisburg. He then served as the Northeast Regional Psychology Services Administrator for 17 years. In this position he supervised over 200 mental health professionals, including doctoral level psychologists and master level therapists, providing psychological services in 18 federal prisons. Between 2012 and 2014, Bryant was an Associate Warden and Acting Warden for the U.S. Department of Justice at the Metropolitan Detention Center in Brooklyn, New York before retiring in January 2014.
Dr. Bryant has presented at many conferences and conducted workshops and trainings on topics including correctional management, crisis management, substance abuse, suicide prevention, sexual assault and prevention, crisis support, work place violence, hostage negotiations and stress management. He has over thirty years of experience as a psychologist in a wide variety of clinical settings, including the non-profit, government and private sectors, working with children, adolescents and adults. In these settings he has provided individual and group therapy, crisis intervention and psychological assessment services. He has an extensive background in forensic psychology and the supervision of psychological professionals working in forensic settings.
In addition, Bryant has also worked as an adjunct professor since 1984 at Brooklyn College, the Bank Street College of Education, the Borough of Manhattan Community College, and most currently, the John Jay College of Criminal Justice. He has been an Adjunct Assistant Professor in the Psychology Department at John Jay College of Criminal Justice (CUNY) since January 2005.
Dr. Bryant has a lengthy academic record having received his BA from Bradley University, his MS from Brooklyn College and his PhD from NYU. He has also been a professional member of the American Psychological Association, the New York State Psychological Association, the American Correctional Association, the New York Society for Ethical Culture Social Service Board and the McBurney YMCA.
"Dr. Bryant deeply cares about our student-athletes and is always there for us," Athletic Director Carol Kashow said. "He is an integral part of the Bloodhounds program."
