Bryant University

Having taught Bryant’s introductory physics course for the past 25 years, Biological and Biomedical Sciences Professor Brian Blais, Ph.D., has previously made small changes to its content and structure, but the rise of artificial intelligence has prompted him to think about content delivery.

“In this age of AI, it is too easy for students who experience some level of discomfort with the challenging task of learning a new subject to lean on the technology to solve problems for them,” says Blais. “Because AI is so accessible, one has to ask what the role of education is, what the role of teachers should be, and how can students effectively face challenges.”

Read more: https://news.bryant.edu/physics-reimagined-age-ai

Scenes from Orientation over the last few weeks.
See you again soon, Class of 2030🐶

For Jimena Abascal-Tavera ’26, Bulldog pride runs in the family — right down to her road-tripping pets.

An International Business major who recently accepted a commodity risk analyst position at global energy company bp, Abascal-Tavera says her life has always had an international flavor.

"I grew up in a three-culture household,” she says. “I was born in Mexico, where my father is from, and lived there until I was eight years old. My mother is from Spain, and my family moved to Texas in 2012 and we became U.S. citizens in 2022.”

Bryant was the right size for Abascal-Tavera, whose high school in Katy, Texas, a suburb of Houston, had about the same number of students as the university. As a first-year student, she had a built-in support system from overlapping with the junior and senior years of her brother, Carlos Abascal ’24, who played four years as an offensive lineman on the Bulldogs football team.

Carlos was unable to attend Jimena’s graduation: he works as an analyst in the Houston office of financial services firm BNY, where he interned while studying Finance at Bryant. But both of her parents, Cony Tavera and Carlos Abascal, as well as younger brother, Diego, made the more than 3,500-mile drive to celebrate Jimena getting her degree.

Also along for the ride were the family’s three dogs: Camila, a Maltipoo; Paola, a Yorkipoo; and Eva, a Shihpoo.

Read more about the Abascal-Tavera family's journey and the road ahead for Jimena here: https://news.bryant.edu/jimena-abascal-tavera-26s-untethered-ambitions-are-anchored-family

From the field to the office, meet four student-athlete alums — Alysa Wright Sargent ’23, Michael Ricci ’92, P’29, Laura Scinto ’89, and Jordan Brown ’13 — who turned their passion for sports into athletics-related careers.

Read more: https://news.bryant.edu/bulldog-goals-where-are-they-now-0

Happy Father's Day to all the Bulldog dads🐶

Today, Bryant University recognizes and celebrates Juneteenth.

A federal holiday, Juneteenth commemorates June 19, 1865, when news of emancipation reached enslaved Black Americans in Texas, more than two years after the Emancipation Proclamation.

On campus, an exhibit at the Krupp Library — a collaboration with the Office of Community and Belonging and the PwC Center — explores the holiday through the lens of Afrofuturism, connecting the history of freedom and resilience to visions of a more just future.

Lindsey Gamble ’10 lives and breathes the creator economy — a system where individuals make money by developing and delivering content to audiences digitally. A consultant, speaker, and creator whose weekly newsletter, which curates news, trends, and updates about creators, influencer marketing, and social media, has also amassed more than 10,000 subscribers. Gamble has earned recognition from LinkedIn as a top voice and from Business Insider as a marketing expert to know.

“For me, it's always been about providing value to whoever's reading my content and helping them in a way that isn’t gimmicky,” says Gamble, a Communication alum. “I take a lot of pride in being able to take what's going on and translate it in a way that's practical.”

In today’s marketing space, influencers have become a powerful force, he notes.

“It's all human led,” says Gamble. “We connect with people as individuals as opposed to entities, and that's the power around it.”

Read more: https://news.bryant.edu/bringing-creator-economy-masses

The world came to Smithfield today.

Bryant Community Day brought together Team Ghana, members of the Bryant community, and fans from across the globe for an afternoon of soccer on the Bulldog pitch. From watching the World Cup 2026™ contenders practice on Bryant’s grass field to meet-and-greets with the players, fans cheered on the team ahead their first match next week.

What a great day to be a Bulldog🐶⚽️🇬🇭