Mississippi Valley State University was in shock Tuesday over the sudden death of a longtime instructor and administrator.
The university was providing no immediate details on the passing of Dr. Constance Bland, vice president of academic affairs. She was 60.
In a statement announcing Dr. Bland’s death to the university community, MVSU President Jerryl Briggs Sr. said she “has played a critical role in creating a culture of academic excellence at the university. Her unwavering dedication has truly helped to keep Valley in Motion. She will be missed dearly by her MVSU family.”
Dr. Bland had a distinguished career as a researcher and professor in computer science in addition to her administrative roles during her 27 years at MVSU. She authored numerous publications.
Her passion for MVSU and its students was widely known.
“Students at MVSU are brilliant beyond reasons that we can fully explain or understand,” Dr. Bland was quoted as saying in her university profile. “Their intelligence needs to be focused in the academic arena so they can soar to heights that they can only fathom in their wildest imagination.”
Dr. Emmitt Y. Riley III, an assistant professor of Africana studies at DePauw University, said he had been inspired in his career by his former instructor.
“If I can be half the professor she was, then I know I will have had a major impact on my students,” he said in a posting on Facebook.
A native of Friars Point, Dr. Bland joined the MVSU faculty in 1991 as an instructor in the Department of Mathematics, Computer and Information Sciences.
Her success and ascent were rapid. By 1999, she was appointed head of the department. She continued in this role until she was elevated to vice president for academic affairs in 2014.
Dr. Bland was adept at attracting major research grants to MVSU, including from the National Science Foundation and NASA.
She was responsible for developing an annual conference to encourage girls in junior high and high school to consider majoring in science, technology, engineering and math.
“Dr. Bland was a pillar of the community of women in computer science,” said Ruthe Farmer, a former senior policy adviser on the inclusion of women in the technology sector for the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy during the administration of Barack Obama. “She opened pathways for a generation of technical women to follow.”
Dr. Bland earned an associate’s degree in mathematics from Coahoma Junior College, now Coahoma Community College. She then studied at the University of Mississippi, obtaining bachelor’s degrees in mathematics and computer science, a master’s degree in computer science and a doctorate in computer engineering.
She is survived by her husband, Edgar Bland Jr., two daughters and three grandchildren.
•Contact Mitch Robinson at 581-7235 or mrobinson@gwcommonwealth.com.
