Lynette Mott Bryan

Raised by two first-generation college graduates, a preacher and a teacher, Lynette Mott Bryan grew up in a home where learning was both expected and celebrated. Education shaped her early life through school, music, and a deep respect for inquiry, eventually guiding her into a career in public education. After earning degrees in elementary and special education, she served as a teacher and later as a school administrator for more than twenty years, stepping into leadership roles that blended practice, policy, and purpose. Lynette’s decision to pursue a PhD emerged from a desire to model lifelong learning for her children, to be the first in her immediate family to earn a doctorate, and to follow a deep conviction that leaders, particularly leaders of faith, carry a responsibility to pursue wisdom in service of meaningful change. After several years of searching, she selected a leadership-focused doctoral program that brought together professionals from education, business, and the nonprofit sector, broadening her understanding of leadership across contexts. Her doctoral journey was marked by perseverance. While she thrived in structured coursework and intensive residencies, the dissertation phase required navigating uncertainty, imposter syndrome, and profound personal loss. Her research explored how faith-based principals integrate personal spirituality into the complexities of public school leadership, a topic shaped by both scholarship and lived experience. Today, Lynette teaches research methodology at both the master’s and doctoral levels and has developed asynchronous research methods courses to support working professionals. She serves on dissertation committees and consults with doctoral students on qualitative methods. Following her retirement from public education, she plans to transition fully into higher education, continuing her work mentoring scholar-practitioners and supporting doctoral learners.