In March, Alabama Governor Dr. Robert Bentley appointed Dr. Hattie Myles to the Board of Trustees for Alabama Agriculture and Mechanical University in Normal, Ala.
Dr. Myles joined the University of South Alabama College of Medicine in 1992 and currently serves as assistant dean for student affairs and educational enrichment at the USA College of Medicine. A champion of higher education, she has worked for the past 34 years at various university administrative posts to inspire students and reduce educational disparities - especially those for underrepresented and disadvantaged students.
“I was the first in my family to go to college,” said Dr. Myles, who grew up in rural Mississippi. “With the encouragement and support of my family, higher education transformed my life.”
According to Dr. Myles, she’s enthusiastic about being part of the leadership at Alabama A&M. “As I have at each step in my career, I look forward to using my passion for education to help and inspire students while advocating on their behalf.”
At USA, Dr. Myles has been an integral investigator for the Pipeline Program at the Center for Healthy Communities, as well as principal investigator for the Summer Research Apprenticeship Program grant and the Health Careers Opportunity Program grant.
Early in her life, Dr. Myles made a personal decision to improve her life through education – a lesson she shares with passion with her students. After graduating from high school as the class valedictorian, she earned her associate’s degree from Southwest Mississippi Junior College in Summit, and her bachelor’s degree from the University of Southern Mississippi in Hattiesburg, Miss.
Her educational career continued in 1978, as she earned her master’s degree in education from Louisiana State University in Baton Rouge, La., and her doctorate in higher education administration and student personnel in 1988 from the University of Mississippi in Oxford.
Between 1979 and 1989, Dr. Myles held multiple positions at Louisiana State University, including assistant coordinator of university relations and community outreach, director of the health careers opportunity program, and academic counselor and veterinary health career development officer.
While living in North Carolina, Dr. Myles served as associate director for health manpower development at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. She also was a grant project consultant for Project Reach to Teach in Durham, N.C., and serves as a grant project evaluator for the Health Careers Opportunity Summer Youth Program at Pembroke State University in Pembroke, N.C., as well as PI for several grants at UNC.
Dr. Myles has been recognized on numerous occasions for her contributions and achievements. She was recognized in 2013 as an outstanding community leader with the Health and Humanitarian Award given by the Gulf Region Organization of Nigerians and Americans. She is also a graduate of both Leadership Mobile and Leadership Alabama.
She has also volunteered her time to local charities, serving on the Allocations Board for the United Way of Southwest Alabama; President of the Greater Mobile Big Brother Big Sister Board; Quality assurance board of Mobile DHHR; and board member of the Mobile YMCA.
Dr. Myles, an “elevational” speaker, markets herself as a steward of humanism, a merchant of hope and a peddler of common sense, delivering motivational and inspirational talks in the areas of education, humanism and spirituality. She speaks across the country at workshops and as a conference key note. She also consults for grant proposal development, implementation and evaluation, as well as project development. She is God-inspired, heart-led and people-motivated.
Alabama A&M University operates in the three-fold function of teaching, research, extension and other public service. It offers baccalaureate, masters, and doctoral level degrees that are compatible with the times to all qualified and capable individuals who are interested in further developing their technical, scientific, professional, and scholastic skills and competencies.
