Resilience, Persistence, and the Emotional Realities of Our Students

Stephanie Tolliver Hyman

Dr. Hyman is the Dean of Arts and Humanities and the Quality Enhancement Plan Coordinator at Southcentral Kentucky Community and Technical College in Bowling Green, Kentucky. A proud first-generation college graduate from Appalachia, she holds a Bachelor of Arts in English Literature from the University of Virginia’s College at Wise, a Master of Arts in English from The University of Richmond, and a Doctorate in Education from Morehead State University. Her research focuses on academic and non-academic barriers impacting student retention and success in corequisite English, as well as educational equity in the community college.  Dr. Tolliver Hyman has also served as a Senior Fellow for Gateway Course Success at the Kentucky Council for Postsecondary Education, working to implement a statewide strategy to improve gateway course outcomes. 

A twenty-year higher education veteran, Dr. Tolliver Hyman has taught English composition and literature in community and technical college systems in Virginia, Kentucky, and both Carolinas, where she served as an award-winning professor, department chair, and writing center director. The writing programs she has designed have been formally recognized in two states and three times nationally for their positive impact on student success and retention. Most recently, she received the National Organization for Student Success’s Vashti Muse and Maxine Elmont Outstanding Graduate of a Student Success Program Award for distinguishing herself in her educational career and the Hunter Boylan Award for Outstanding Research.