Monroe David "Bud" Bryant

B.A., Austin College, 1927

M.A., University of Illinois, 1931

Ph.D., University of California at Berkeley, 1942

Bud Bryant was a native of Pottsboro who grew up on the family farm homesteaded by his grandfather.  He attended high school in Sherman and graduated from Austin College at the age of 19.  After years in professional baseball, as a Ranger at Yosemite National Park, and as a high school teacher and coach, he earned his doctorate in Vertebrate Anatomy and an appointment at the University of California as Assistant Professor of Biology and Assistant Curator of the Museum of Vertebrate Zoology. 

(Note : Vertebrates include the jawless fish, bony fish, sharks and rays, amphibians, reptiles, mammals, and birds. Extant vertebrates range in size from the frog species Paedophryne amauensis, at as little as 7.7 mm (0.3 inch), to the blue whale at up to 33 m (110 ft). Vertebrates make up about 4% of all described animal species; the rest are invertebrates, which lack backbones.)

His wife, Mavis Clymer, was also from Grayson County.  They spent their honeymoon camping at Tuolumne Meadows in Yosemite National Park, California, where Bud was employed as a ranger naturalist for several summers.

Denison Press
July 9, 1942

Monroe Bryant To Enter Mercantile
Monroe D. Bryant has arrived in Denison from Berkeley, California, where he recently graduated with a Ph.D. degree in zoology, and with Mrs. Bryant, the former Miss Mavis Clymer, and their baby daughter, Mavis Anne, will live at 32 Vaugh Drive which they rented this week.
Mr. Bryant has been teaching in various educational institutions as he progressed with his own studies, but for the present he will enter the mercantile business in Denison.  He is part owner of the Denison Poultry and Egg company, 131 E. Morton, whose proprietor is Bryant's father-in-law, Ray Clymer, Sr.
Mr. and Mrs. Bryant are stopping with their grandmother, Mrs. A.E. Clymer, 929 West Morton, while their house is being made ready in the Cuff addition.  Mr. Bryant is a nephew of Judge Randolph Bryant of Sherman, and belongs to the pioneer Bryant family of  Pottsboro.

Dr. Bryant returned to Austin College in 1947 as Professor of Biology and Chairman of the Department.  During his 25 years at Austin College, his excellence in teaching was recognized when he was named a Minnie S. Piper Professor, a statewide honor. He also received the Austin College Excellence in Teaching Award and, in 1965, the Distinguished Alumnus Award.

Bud Bryant had a profound influence on the Austin College Biology Program and on his students.  He was responsible for introducing field courses to the curriculum while at the same time greatly increasing the excellence of the pre-medical program and its reputation.  He began the Herbarium and Natural History Collections.  During his tenure at the College, he taught virtually every biology course at one time or another.  His summer field trips, both local and to the western U.S., Alaska, and Mexico, broadened the liberal arts perspective of his students.  His 1942 and 1945 papers on the mammals of the Big Bend Area of Texas and phylogeny of North American ground squirrels were published in national journals and continue to be cited by subsequent researchers.

Throughout his years at Austin College, Bud Bryant always set very high standards for his students, worked tirelessly to help them meet those standards, and took deep pride in their achievements in life.

During Austin College’s 100 Years of Science celebration, Sandy shared the following story: 

Systematic Botany Final Exam with Dr. M.D. Bryant

Dr. Bryant was legendary for his rigorous academic standards for Biology (mostly pre-med) students in the 1960s. The best way to illustrate this to current students is to describe our Systematic Botany final exam and let them compare it to AC’s finals today. First, even though this was a senior-level course, everyone had to take the exam, and it counted 25% of the final course grade! Dr. Bryant did not give the exam during the scheduled time—he gave it on the last Saturday of exam week. It was given in the field, not in a classroom or lab. We carpooled all around Grayson County starting at 8 a.m. Austin College did not have vans for field labs then as they do now. We would stop at a specific location (not necessarily one that we had previously visited in lab), and Dr. Bryant would point to a plant and ask us a question about it. In addition, we would have to write down the genus and species of it. It could be a plant that we didn’t see in lab and if that was the case, he would give extra credit if you knew the species. You were expected to know the genus from knowing genus characteristics, even if you had not seen the plant before.

At noon, we ended up at his cabin on Lake Texoma. We ate our sack lunches while he handed out an all-essay written exam. He gave us four hours to write the exam. After the class was finished, he cooked hamburgers for everyone and brought out beer for those old enough to legally drink.

This was definitely the most memorable exam in my college experience. I am not sure that even my thesis defense for my master’s degree was any harder or more stressful. — Sandy Beach, Class of 1968

Always a champion of the underdog, Dr. Bryant helped older students and women find careers in medicine, dentistry, and medical illustration.  After the Korean War, Austin College saw an influx of veterans preparing themselves for medical school on the G.I. Bill.  Some of these "hard working, hard playing" students helped Bud complete the research for his monograph, "Poisonous Snakes of Grayson County."

Dr. Bryant died in 1974; he is buried with his family in Fairview Cemetery.  After his death, former students, friends, and family established the Bryant Fellowship in Biology.  These fellowships, awarded each year to one or more academically outstanding biology majors, are ongoing reminders of Dr. Bryant's many contributions to the College.

Biography Index
Susan Hawkins
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