Making Dreams Come True

Significant gift from 1981 graduate Michelle (Asby) Ryan and husband, Jim, supports first-generation teaching majors

As a 17-year-old high school junior, Michelle (Asby) Ryan had a decision to make.

She knew she wanted to attend college, and she knew she had a passion for education. Unfortunately, none of the institutions she had explored to that point seemed to click for her.

So, in what she now jokingly refers to as a “rare moment of maturity” for a student her age, she arranged a meeting with the superintendent of her Illinois school district, hoping to come away with some clarity about her situation.

His advice, it turned out, was unequivocal.

“Without any hesitation, he looked at me and said, ‘You need to go to Ball State,’” Ms. Ryan recalled. “So, I came and looked at Ball State. And it clicked.”

After a fulfilling experience at Ball State, Ms. Ryan graduated in 1981 with a double major in Elementary Education and Special Education. Her career path then led her into the corporate world, but she never lost her passion for teaching, or her love of her alma mater.

In late 2020, Michelle and her husband, Jim Ryan, made a $1.45 million commitment—the largest single gift in the history of Ball State’s Teachers College—to establish the Ryan Family Scholars and Navigator Program.

One key part of the funding supports the Michelle A. and James T. Ryan Family Scholarship, which covers all costs for approximately 16 Ryan Scholars during a seven-year period. Just as important, however, is the creation of the Ryan Family Navigator Program. This hub provides comprehensive student support services to all teaching majors, particularly those who are the first in their families to attend college and/or who have financially challenging backgrounds.

Ms. Ryan said her experiences as a substitute teacher and tutor at an inner-city school in Chicago inspired this key mission of the Ryan Family Scholars and Navigator Program.

“I started to realize that these kids just need a chance. They need good teachers, and they just need a chance,” she said.

Mr. Ryan added: “These kids in our program, they come to Ball State with many challenges. Almost all of them have high financial needs. They’re working at home to provide some income for their family. They’re driving siblings back and forth to school, helping them with homework, and doing a lot of other things around the house to help. When they leave home and they come to school, they don’t just leave those challenges at home.

“But now they have to deal with those challenges from a distance,” he continued. “And most of them are first-generation college students who show up on campus in a very unfamiliar environment. They really need a support system.”

One of those students, Bryan (Alex) Vivas, couldn’t believe his eyes when he received an initial email with information about the Ryan Family Scholars and Navigator Program.

Thinking the opportunity was too good to be true, he “wrote it off” at first. But his intrigue eventually got the best of him, and he did a bit more digging.

“Then I was still, even after learning about it, like, ‘This can’t be real. People don’t just get opportunities to chase their dreams,’” he recalled.

However, once Mr. Vivas was accepted into the first cohort of the Ryan Family Scholars in Fall 2021, he began to fully realize the opportunity in front of him.

“You learn how this program is about helping other people,” said Mr. Vivas, a junior Secondary English Education major. “Now we have the opportunity to truly chase what we want to do and not be burdened by anything besides our studies, our dreams, and our goals.”

That brings a smile to the face of Ms. Ryan, who through a bit of her own serendipity, found her way to Ball State more than four decades ago. She said she feels blessed and fortunate to have the opportunity to make an impact on our brightest future educators, taught in an institution in which diversity and support for all students are paramount.

“The Teachers College here is a very special place, and the faculty here is phenomenal,” Ms. Ryan said. “The programs that they have, the research that they do, are just very top-notch, which sets it apart from many other teachers colleges within other universities. So that was one of the main reasons that we decided to come back to Ball State and put the scholarship together.

“But secondly, as we walk the halls, we notice that many professors have signs up in their offices that say, ‘I’m first-gen.’ So, it is very clear to me that these faculty members have a great relationship with their students. And, if you are a first-generation student, there’s a professor you could go and talk to who had your same experience. And that is really important to us.”