Quintuple Jaguar: Lisa Byrd’s inspirational story

Graduating from college is a great accomplishment. Those years of late-night studying, last-minute cramming, showing up to 8 a.m. classes and forgoing social events (sometimes) have paid off, and you’re rewarded with a diploma as a symbol of all your hard work. Now imagine doing that again … and again … and again … and again… until, finally, you have five degrees under your belt.

That’s the case for Lisa Byrd. She’s the district school improvement specialist for the Richmond County School System, a former middle school teacher, a scholar and a leader. And now, after a 13-year collegiate journey, she’ll soon be gaining two new highly impressive titles: Doctor of Education and one of the first quintuple Jaguars.

The degree — an EdD in Educational Innovation with a major in Educational Leadership from the College of Education and Human Development and The Graduate School at Augusta University — builds upon the other degrees Byrd has acquired from AU and its legacy institutions: a Bachelor of Business Administration with a concentration in Marketing in 1996, a Bachelor of Science in Middle Grades Education in 1998, a Master of Education in English Education in 2007 and an Education Specialist in Educational Leadership in 2010.

She has a lifelong passion for learning, teaching and empowering her students and peers to be the best they can be. In her current position, she uses the skills she’s learned through her degrees to help all of the high schools in Richmond County develop their improvement plans, budgets and plans for success. 

But believe it or not, Byrd’s career path wasn’t always headed in the current direction.

“I started here as an undecided major, and at first I thought maybe something medical, but I quickly decided against that, and I majored in business administration with a major in marketing and a minor in communications,” she said. “That was a natural piece for me because I was raised in a business. My dad was an electrical and plumbing contractor for his business, Byrd’s Electrical and Plumbing, so that was natural.”

After earning that degree, she worked a series of temporary jobs, but less than a year later, she realized she was being pulled in another direction.

“I came back and got a second bachelor’s degree in middle grades education because I decided I wanted to teach. After my second bachelor’s, I got a master’s in English education,” she said. “When I graduated with my bachelor’s, I could teach fourth to eighth grade English and social studies, but the master’s gave me the opportunity to also teach high school.”

Byrd enjoyed being a teacher but was still yearning for more ways to grow her skill set, climb the metaphorical ladder in her career and make a positive impact on the education system from a leadership standpoint.

“I went and got my specialist’s some years later in leadership because I wanted the ability to be an administrator or district leader in education,” she said. “I feel like I’ve always married all of the things I’ve learned from business and communication together because you’re communicating with the public in education. When you come at it from a business mindset, you want your test scores to be really good because you see it as your business. You’re trying to improve student achievement; you want it to grow.”

Byrd always knew she wanted to finish her schooling with a doctoral degree, and kept coming back to JagNation for a few reasons: the supportive environment, the compassion and availability of the faculty and its proximity to her home. 

She credits many of her successes, both professionally and educationally, to the resources the university offered her. 

“English here at Augusta University sets you up for success everywhere,” she said. “They affectionately call themselves Harvard on the Hill because English is tough here, but it prepares you for anything. When I went to write my dissertation, it was easy because of the experiences that I had previously.”

As a graduate assistant who wrote grants for the Dr. Paulette P. Harris Literacy Center, Byrd was able to work closely with faculty mentors who guided her along the way.

“Lisa’s commitment to her own studies, which is evident in the fact that she has returned to AU five times, should be commended, as she is constantly looking for ways to learn more and become a better educator,” said Rebecca Harper, PhD, a professor at COEHD and Byrd’s doctoral program committee chair.

But obtaining the degree while balancing a full-time job and other responsibilities hasn’t been all rainbows and butterflies, as you can imagine. 

On top of the work it took to get this far, Byrd has had to overcome obstacles in her personal life during the last three years, such as undergoing a major surgery and taking care of her sick father.

“While I only spent one night in the hospital, my dad and I called each other from one hospital to another. I told the doctor that it had to be at the end of the fall semester. His team found the perfect date, and it all worked out,” she said. “This gave me plenty of time to recover and return the next semester. I was determined not to give up my dream of completing my doctorate.”

Byrd’s college mentors supported and uplifted her during this time, providing her with resources and stability so she could complete her tasks at school and at home. Miraculously, she never missed a class or an assignment.

“I had the pleasure of teaching Lisa three times during her doctoral program, and she impressed me in each course with her determination and her caring nature. Lisa’s perseverance, especially when having to balance her doctoral work with her full-time job and being a caretaker, was remarkable,” said Rhia Moreno, PhD, an associate professor at COEHD.

But the challenges kept piling up, and Byrd had to work through heartbreaking losses and changes in her personal and professional life while also maintaining her status as a devoted student.

“My dad passed the first year of my doctoral studies. He died in May of ’23, and then my aunt died in October. I’ve had three different bosses during this degree. I got a promotion during this degree. So there’s been a lot of extra life stuff that you have to work through,” she said.

After the loss of her father, Byrd had a few weeks during the summer of 2023 to grieve before the start of the next semester of her EdD. After that, she was faced with two options: take some additional time off from her studies and risk never going back to finish it or persevere and continue despite the drastic changes in her life. 

For her, the choice was simple.

“You have to keep going. That’s what he would want me to do. I took time off because it was in between semesters, but I knew that he would be proud of me for keeping going,” she said.

And keep going, she did. 

Byrd successfully defended her dissertation, Teachers’ Lived Experiences With State-Mandated Professional Development In K-3, at the end of March with her two other group members.

Judi Wilson, EdD, dean of the College of Education and Human Development, has collaborated with Byrd in the past and has known her for many years. She’s proud of her for overcoming such a feat.

“It has been such a joy and honor to watch her continue to return to AU over and over again to further her education,” Wilson said. “The degrees she has earned have opened new professional doors of opportunity for her. She is a lifelong learner and one of our strongest ambassadors at AU.”

Byrd has no plans of returning to the university for another degree, but that doesn’t mean she’s against returning as a faculty member. 

“I had the opportunity to present with one of my professors at a higher ed conference this semester, so I think it would be interesting to see what it would be like to teach college as an adjunct professor because this degree opens up that opportunity,” she said. “I loved my educational leadership finance class and teaching educators how to maximize their budget and their work, and I do that a lot in my day job.”

She has some words of wisdom for young undecided-major Lisa Byrd, and any other undergraduate who might find themselves in similar shoes.

“I would say it’s OK to start undecided because I think when people are in high school, you really don’t know what’s out there. You haven’t experienced enough to know what’s out there, and jobs change so frequently,” she said. “So there’s so many different opportunities. I would say continue to chase whatever degree, whatever dream that you have, and just understand grit and determination will always be required, no matter what the degree.”