Bryant First Lady Kati Machtley, director of the Women’s Summit, was presented the Rhode Island Women in Higher Education’s Annual Award for Outstanding Leadership at the organization’s spring event. It was held on April 18 at the Save the Bay headquarters in Providence.

After being introduced by Jennifer Chasse, program manager in the Executive Development Center at Bryant, Machtley took a moment to reflect on the roles that her grandmothers, mother, and father played in her journey as an educator.

(L-R) Bryant First Lady Kati Machtley, director of the Women's Summit, with Jennifer Chasse, program manager in the Executive Development Center, and Peg Brown, vice president of development and college relations at Rhode Island College and the state coordinator of Rhode Island Women in Higher Education.

Machtley started kindergarten when she was only three years old after her mother opened a private kindergarten class. Machtley attended kindergarten for the next three years with her mother until she was old enough for the first grade. As a young child, she can remember visiting the one-room schoolhouses in Pennsylvania where her grandmothers taught six grades of students.

“I always admired my grandmothers, and I was very fortunate to have been able to spend so much time with them both as a child and a young adult,” she says.

Machtley’s father, a World War II veteran who was never able to finish college, always instilled in her the importance of higher education.

“A college degree is something that can never be taken from you,” he would tell her.

Machtley earned a Bachelor of Science in nursing from the University of Maryland and a Master of Science in nursing education from the University of Rhode Island. She has taught at Salve Regina University in Newport, the University of Massachusetts Dartmouth, and George Mason University in Fairfax, VA.

In a recent talk with her 81-year-old mother, Machtley was reminded that she has either been going to school or teaching for most of her life.

Bryant First Lady Kati Machtley and President Ronald K. Machtley have been married for 37 years.

At Bryant, she has chaired the Women’s Summit for 11 years. The conference has brought thousands of women and men to Bryant for the day-long event that focuses on professional and personal development. She has also chaired the University’s Interfaith Prayer Breakfast and the Angel Tree Project, a prison fellowship ministry that provides holiday gifts for children of inmates.

Together with her husband of 37 years, Bryant President Ronald K. Machtley, she teaches a Foundations for Learning course for first-year students. For the second time this summer, the Machtleys will lead a trip to Italy as part of the Sophomore International Experience program. Recently, Machtley took part in the “Telling Her Story” series sponsored by the Women’s Center as part of Women’s History Month at Bryant.

“We watch the students over the years as they transform into well-educated, confident, and caring graduates of Bryant University who are ready to make great contributions to our society,” she says.

Bryant First Lady Kati Machtley reflects on the roles that her grandmothers, mother, and father played in her journey as an educator after she accepted the Rhode Island Women in Higher Education’s Annual Award for Outstanding Leadership at the organization’s spring event.  

Machtley talked about the work Bryant students perform in the community through the American Cancer Society’s Relay for Life and Special Olympics, which Bryant will host for the 28th time on May 3.

“It is these kind of events that build character in our students,” says Machtley. “We are so proud of them.

Adds Machtley, “We all work in higher education because we want to make the world a better place for generations to come. We know that in order to make that happen, our young people must be prepared to carry the torch of knowledge into the future.”