Alumni Excellence Awards: Legacy Recipent William Ryan '90

Growing up in Pittsburgh, William Ryan ’90 learned an important life lesson from his father: “He always told me, ‘when you move to a new place, get a subscription to the local newspaper, put some money into the local United Way, and find out where you can help.’”

They’re words that he lives by to this day.

After Ryan and his wife, Joan Richtsmeier, moved to Easton, Maryland, in 2009, he volunteered at Building African American Minds (BAAM), a local nonprofit organization that provides academic and social help to at-risk youths. The organization nurtures “belonging, success and potential” to 100 young people, most of them first through fifth graders.

“We teach them resiliency, respect for others, and always trying your best,” says Ryan, who is now president of the board of directors. “One of the things that we tell the kids quite often is that when difficulties arise, your response is your responsibility. This goes to anger management, it goes to a lot of things. If you have grit and resilience, you will do well in this world.

“BAAM involves a lot of social and emotional learning, and we teach the kids how to express themselves – the soft skills that can really help you achieve.”

Ryan has shepherded exciting growth at the organization, helping to secure private and public funding for new construction. In December, BAAM celebrated the completion of a new academic center, which houses eight classrooms, a music room, and a library that includes a section on African American history.

With a staff of nine, BAAM relies on partnerships with educational resources that include Chesapeake College and a nearby private school, Polaris Village Academy. Ryan is helping to secure grants that will allow BAAM to broaden its efforts to provide workforce training and community wellness programs. There also are plans to invite authors and artists to make presentations to the Easton community at large.

Ryan says his time as Maryland was hugely consequential: “The University of Maryland changed my life.” He was practicing aviation law in Chicago, but Ryan was unfulfilled.

After a year at the University of Illinois-Chicago updating his physics and mathematics skills, Ryan received a meteorology fellowship at Maryland. It wasn’t a far leap to consider such a field. It’s a career that came about, also with his dad’s influences. The pair used to sail the family’s 40-foot vessel in the waters off Cape Cod. “Any sailor is also an amateur meteorologist,” Ryan says.

“That fellowship changed my life,” he adds. “I had never taken a class in meteorology, and I had no formal training at all. But Maryland had faith that I could do this. I could relax and learn, and I didn’t have to worry about how I was going to pay for this. When I got there, it was a great learning experience.”

Ryan went on to teach meteorology at Penn State from 2000-23.

Back at his alma mater, he’s returning the favor. Ryan established a pair of fellowships at Maryland – one awarded to a graduate student in any academic discipline, and a separate award that targets minority graduate students.

“I’m basically paying it back,” he says. “My hope is to be able to add to the fellowship amounts and give a new generation of meteorologists the chance I had.”