Kathy Scales Bryan is an emeritus lecturer in American Studies, and an Affiliate Assistant Professor in the Gender and Women’s Studies Department and the Language, Literacy, and Culture program. She received her Ph.D in American Studies from the University of Maryland College Park in 1991. Before coming to UMBC in 1997, she was an education policy analyst for AAUW, a non-profit organization focusing on gender equity in education. Her teaching and research interests focus on childhood, family, education, and twentieth-century American history.
Dr. Bryan teaches American Studies core courses, including junior and senior research courses, and a cluster of courses examining intersections of identity, community, social location, and culture; relations of power; and cultural maintenance and transformation over time. These include: Introduction to American Studies; Approaches in American Studies; Research in American Studies; Gender and Inequality in American Society; The American Dream; Perspectives on the Family; Perspectives on Childhood; Teachers in American Culture; and Senior Seminar.