Young Alumni of the Year

Katy Saynes graduated from Bryan College in 2004 with a B.S. in Liberal Arts with Elementary Licensure.  She accepted a teaching position at Rhea Central where she taught middle school Math for four years and earned her M. A. in Instructional Leadership from Tennessee Tech in 2006. While coming back to Bryan was never in her future plans, God orchestrated events so that she returned to Bryan to teach in the Education Department in 2008.  In 2016, she completed her Ed.D. in Instruction and Curriculum Leadership from Northcentral University.  During her time working at Bryan, she has served in a variety of capacities including Education Department Chair, Faculty Chair, Curriculum Committee Chair, and now Dean of Professional Studies and Bryan College Online.

As a student at Bryan, she found a deep love for teaching that has only continued to grow as God has shown her new ways to use this passion.  Her desire to be a positive influence in the lives of students was also enhanced through the biblical approach taken at Bryan.  Her professors and the Bryan community made her the educator she is today.  As a professor and administrator at Bryan, her desire is to see the college succeed in its mission to create servants of Christ by demonstrating servant leadership and to truly place Christ above all.

Katy met her husband Nick in high school, and they have been married for 20 years.  Nick has worked for the Chattanooga Fire Department for 19 years and is now a Captain.  They enjoy traveling with their two daughters Kayla (17) and Lily (16) who plan to attend Bryan in the very near future.

She believes that the various paths her life has taken are because of God working in her life.  From her husband to her first job teaching middle school to the various roles she has had at Bryan, all of it has been about following God’s will even when it wasn’t part of her original plan.  She often leans on the book of Esther during times that she’s not quite sure what God has in store for her and her life verse, Colossians 1:29 “For this purpose I also labor, striving according to His power which works mightily in me.”