In Memoriam
Brenda K. Bryant
Professor of Human Development and Family Studies
UC Davis
1945-2017
Brenda K. Bryant, a professor of Human Development and Family Studies whose work focused on the well-being of school-aged children, passed away on August 10, 2017.
Brenda was known for her innovative, multi-faceted research, best described as centering around children’s relationships—with their parents and siblings, with their teachers, with their peers, and even with their pets. Her work underscored that children learn important lessons about the world and about themselves through their social interactions with others. She studied children in their daily lives in classrooms, homes, and neighborhoods. Impressively, the breadth of Brenda’s research interests did not stop there. The emphasis on children’s relationships was just a jumping off point. Over the years, the topics of her publications ranged from empathy to vocational development, coping to professional ethics, and conflict resolution to racial understanding to neuropsychology to autonomy.
At UC Davis, Brenda was also recognized for her support of junior faculty as well as her work on the Faculty Senate Welfare Committee, where she pushed for equity in faculty salary and benefits. Brenda is remembered fondly for paying for meals during meetings with junior faculty promising that she would allow them to cover the bill “after you get tenure”—and then continuing to insist on paying for the meals long past tenure had been attained. She justified this breach of understanding by arguing that they should just pay it forward instead.
Brenda graduated from high school in St. Louis, Missouri. She went on to receive her BA in Psychology from Cornell University and her PhD in Clinical Psychology from the University of Minnesota. During her time at the University of Minnesota, she also worked as a school psychologist to get hands-on experience that could inform the research she was conducting as well as to see the direct benefits and progress that youth can make when receiving interventions. After attaining her PhD, Brenda moved west and became a UC Davis Aggie through and through. She started her tenure at UC Davis in 1971 and continued to serve the university until her retirement in 2011.
Brenda had looked forward to retirement, not as many do, to relax and take it easy away from the stresses and routine of daily work life. Rather, she planned just the opposite. She began digging into complex research projects that had been put on hold. And, she sought to continuously challenge herself with activities such as learning to play the piano, teaching herself new languages, traveling internationally, and honing her cooking skills. She admitted that these new adventures in skill-building would be difficult and likely immensely frustrating at times. Nonetheless, she happily looked forward to meeting these challenges head on, whether it was navigating new neighborhoods in her beloved city of Paris or attempting a dish that required deliciously complicated techniques. Brenda’s attitude, however, was not all that surprising given that she had once written a 4-H Center for Youth Development monograph on “The Value of Failure.” “Successful individuals,” she wrote, “regardless of domain of endeavor, do not succeed in every attempt. They are considered successful not because they’ve never experienced failures, but because they turn their failures into setbacks.”
Brenda always remained deeply committed to the field of child development and believed that a focus on positive youth development was the pathway to a better global community. To that end, she had tasked herself with learning about the nomination process for the Nobel Peace Prize. She was interested in nominating those child development researchers whose work focused on teaching conflict resolution skills to youth worldwide. While she did not succeed in her initial attempts, Brenda’s work has always been somewhat ahead of its time. Thus, it is possible that the Nobel Peace Prize committee will indeed one day recognize the promise and power of children—and those who help them develop adaptive, prosocial skills—in the quest for worldwide peace.
Brenda will be missed by the UC Davis community. She meant to make a point about child development, but in fact her words ring true about the human condition more broadly: “Learning that one is not perfect, yet still loved and accepted, has long been considered important for long-term well-being.”
Brenda is survived by her son Matthew.
Zhe Chen
Larry Harper
Adrienne Nishina
Brenda was known for her innovative, multi-faceted research, best described as centering around children’s relationships—with their parents and siblings, with their teachers, with their peers, and even with their pets. Her work underscored that children learn important lessons about the world and about themselves through their social interactions with others. She studied children in their daily lives in classrooms, homes, and neighborhoods. Impressively, the breadth of Brenda’s research interests did not stop there. The emphasis on children’s relationships was just a jumping off point. Over the years, the topics of her publications ranged from empathy to vocational development, coping to professional ethics, and conflict resolution to racial understanding to neuropsychology to autonomy.
At UC Davis, Brenda was also recognized for her support of junior faculty as well as her work on the Faculty Senate Welfare Committee, where she pushed for equity in faculty salary and benefits. Brenda is remembered fondly for paying for meals during meetings with junior faculty promising that she would allow them to cover the bill “after you get tenure”—and then continuing to insist on paying for the meals long past tenure had been attained. She justified this breach of understanding by arguing that they should just pay it forward instead.
Brenda graduated from high school in St. Louis, Missouri. She went on to receive her BA in Psychology from Cornell University and her PhD in Clinical Psychology from the University of Minnesota. During her time at the University of Minnesota, she also worked as a school psychologist to get hands-on experience that could inform the research she was conducting as well as to see the direct benefits and progress that youth can make when receiving interventions. After attaining her PhD, Brenda moved west and became a UC Davis Aggie through and through. She started her tenure at UC Davis in 1971 and continued to serve the university until her retirement in 2011.
Brenda had looked forward to retirement, not as many do, to relax and take it easy away from the stresses and routine of daily work life. Rather, she planned just the opposite. She began digging into complex research projects that had been put on hold. And, she sought to continuously challenge herself with activities such as learning to play the piano, teaching herself new languages, traveling internationally, and honing her cooking skills. She admitted that these new adventures in skill-building would be difficult and likely immensely frustrating at times. Nonetheless, she happily looked forward to meeting these challenges head on, whether it was navigating new neighborhoods in her beloved city of Paris or attempting a dish that required deliciously complicated techniques. Brenda’s attitude, however, was not all that surprising given that she had once written a 4-H Center for Youth Development monograph on “The Value of Failure.” “Successful individuals,” she wrote, “regardless of domain of endeavor, do not succeed in every attempt. They are considered successful not because they’ve never experienced failures, but because they turn their failures into setbacks.”
Brenda always remained deeply committed to the field of child development and believed that a focus on positive youth development was the pathway to a better global community. To that end, she had tasked herself with learning about the nomination process for the Nobel Peace Prize. She was interested in nominating those child development researchers whose work focused on teaching conflict resolution skills to youth worldwide. While she did not succeed in her initial attempts, Brenda’s work has always been somewhat ahead of its time. Thus, it is possible that the Nobel Peace Prize committee will indeed one day recognize the promise and power of children—and those who help them develop adaptive, prosocial skills—in the quest for worldwide peace.
Brenda will be missed by the UC Davis community. She meant to make a point about child development, but in fact her words ring true about the human condition more broadly: “Learning that one is not perfect, yet still loved and accepted, has long been considered important for long-term well-being.”
Brenda is survived by her son Matthew.
Zhe Chen
Larry Harper
Adrienne Nishina
