Earle Bryant

Earle Bryant was born in Philadelphia, PA, and raised in both that city and New Orleans. He is a former seminarian, having studied for the Roman Catholic priesthood in the Josephite Order. He received his B.A. degree in English from Xavier University and earned his master's and Ph.D. from Harvard University.

Dr. Bryant began teaching at UNO in 1978 and specializes in African American literature, American literature, and English Renaissance literature. During his many years at UNO, he has been the recipient of several teaching awards — the Amoco Award for Excellence in Teaching, as well as the Metropolitan College's Professional Development Instructor of the Year. In 1997 he was awarded the Louisiana Endowment for Humanities' Humanitarian of the Year Award in recognition of his work in adult literacy. In 2001 he was honored as a Seraphia D. Leyda University Teaching Fellow. More recently, Dr. Bryant received the 2007 UNO Alumni Association Award for Excellence in Teaching, as well as the 2016 Distinguished English Faculty Award.

In 1998 Dr. Bryant became the first coordinator of UNO's newly established Africana Studies program and a year later was appointed the university's first Africana Studies Endowed Professor.

Ph.D., Harvard University, 1979