Volunteer of the Year Award - 2017: Richard Ryans '79

2017: Richard Ryans '79

In recognition of his years of dedicated service to the University of Notre Dame and especially its diverse alumni and students, Richard Ryans ’79 was presented with the Notre Dame Alumni Association’s 2017 Volunteer of the Year award. Ryans received the award during the Alumni Association Leadership Conference on Notre Dame’s campus on April 21. 

Ryans is one of the founders of the Black Alumni of Notre Dame, an organization dedicated to enhancing the presence and experiences of African Americans across the Notre Dame family: students, faculty, administration, and alumni. 

In August 1985, Ryans received a letter from Rev. Theodore M. Hesburgh, C.S.C., the University president at the time, and former Alumni Association Executive Director Chuck Lennon ’61, ’62M.A. seeking assistance from black alumni. The University was having trouble recruiting and retaining African American students. 

Ryans was one of several graduates who answered the call and took on a leadership role, helping to launch the Black Alumni of Notre Dame in 1989. He has remained involved since and as chair of the Black Alumni sat on the Alumni Association’s Board of Directors from 2013-15. He also chaired the Alumni Association’s Diversity Council from 2015-16. 

“No one has done more over the last 30 years to serve and support our diverse students, alumni, and friends than Richard Ryans,” says Dolly Duffy ’84, the executive director of the Notre Dame Alumni Association. “The University of Notre Dame is so grateful for Richard’s dedication, selflessness, and leadership.”

A native of Memphis, Ryans lives in Elkridge, Maryland and serves as the director of finance at the Food Research & Action Center in Washington, D.C.