When Alan Lyles was 5 years old, he watched his father and mother argue over the value of a decimal point.
His father, who was illiterate, maintained nothing that small could be so significant.
His mother decided to refocus her energy on another pursuit. She wanted her son to have the education his father lacked.
Lyles would become the first in his family to earn a college degree. He would go on to earn another bachelor鈥檚 degree, a professional pharmacy degree, a master鈥檚 in public health and a doctor of science.
In 2023, Lyles, a professor in UBalt's College of Public Affairs, added another remarkable feat to his story. He became one of 30 distinguished individuals to receive an honorary doctorate from the University of Helsinki.
鈥淲hat I am grateful for is that this arc, and the experiences that I鈥檝e been privileged to participate in, have made for a meaningful life,鈥� Lyles said. 鈥淎t 73, I want to be clear-eyed in terms of where the runway ends for me, and affirm that all the extra work was worth it. 鈥� It has been a richly rewarding and meaningful life.鈥�
Lyles was born in 1950 in a rural North Carolina community. His family was large and most lacked an education. Housing and food insecurity were an unfortunate result for his family.
His mother had dropped out of middle school to work in a cotton mill. Around 20, she married Lyle鈥檚 father, who hadn鈥檛 completed second grade.
His mother ended up divorcing his father after they had moved to 极乐禁地e. With superior schools compared to those in the rural south at that time, the city would help change his fate.
It was a difficult transition. Lyles was severely behind his classmates on reading, or even knowing the alphabet.
鈥淚 can remember one of my teachers, as if I couldn鈥檛 hear her, say, 鈥楢lan has a nice smile, but he鈥檚 a bit slow.鈥� I couldn鈥檛 read. I was most of the way through the second grade before I fully learned the alphabet.鈥�
His mother was adamant that Lyles keep trying. She took time to practice with her son at home.
鈥淔rustrated with my lack of progress in understanding standard English grammar, my mother arranged to have my seventh-grade math teacher explain English grammar in terms of math,鈥� Lyles explained. 鈥淚t didn鈥檛 take; it all continued to sound wrong to my hearing.鈥�
Eventually, in part because of his mother鈥檚 persistence, Lyles caught up. He even started to excel in math and considered it for a career.
Finding himself in college
In 1968, Lyles started at Loyola College as a math major, and he liked college more
than he thought. But earlier that year, Martin Luther King Jr. was assassinated. which
triggered riots in cities worldwide, including 极乐禁地e.
鈥淭he world was coming apart,鈥� he said. 鈥淚鈥檓 looking at this and being a math major just doesn鈥檛 make sense.鈥�
Lyles shifted his focus to political science and democracy. One professor opened his world view in more ways than he could have imagined.
鈥淗e was an Austrian teenager in World War II. He had been in the Hitler Youth, and so he had a perspective on power and the pathologies of power but also a rationalist view of approaching what are irrational situations,鈥� Lyles said. 鈥淗e made a profound impact.鈥�
Lyles was starting to appreciate the value of learning through his ability to discover new things.
He finished his first degree at Loyola. Then he found an entry-level administrative job in the comprehensive alcoholism program, a demonstration project at The Johns Hopkins Hospital, where he contributed to writing its continuation grant.
He excelled in the role, earning him promotions. But what he strongly valued was the employer鈥檚 tuition remission benefit.
Lyles enrolled in night classes in biology, organic chemistry and physics at Towson State University. His plan was to get to pharmacy school and move toward a Ph.D. in pharmaceutical chemistry.
Step by step, degree by degree
Over time, Lyles was achieving his long-term aim. And he kept his mind open when new
options came his way.
He had been focused on how drugs work once they鈥檙e in the system, but time and experience had him wondering why people were struggling to get the medicine they needed to begin with. It was a decision that led him to pursue a master鈥檚 degree in public health.
With every degree he earned, Lyles would think of the people who got him to that point. First was his mother, who would follow his lead to earn her own college degree (and ultimately two masters鈥� degrees and a doctorate). Later came his wife, who supported every degree he chased.
鈥淚 don鈥檛 want to understate this: I don鈥檛 think that anything that I鈥檝e accomplished would have been possible without her,鈥� Lyles said.
Another person to impact Lyle鈥檚 future was someone he met by accident.
He had gone to Johns Hopkins to meet someone that could finalize the paperwork he needed to register for his M.P.H. program.
When he got there, though, the person he had been assigned and alternates weren鈥檛 available. So, he met with a faculty member for a signature to register for the fall term, this professor also happened to have a training grant and an open spot.
Lyles wasn鈥檛 sure, wasn鈥檛 ready, but the faculty member convinced him it would be worth his time. He decided to go for it (with his wife鈥檚 support).
In 1986, Lyles earned a doctorate from Hopkins鈥� Division of Operations Research in the Department of Health Policy and Management.
A fulfilling career in higher education
Lyles didn鈥檛 know it at the time, but having a doctorate would help him shift his
career one more time鈥攊nto higher education.
Lyles never had teaching on his radar. Then, at 43, he was diagnosed with a substantial tumor inside his spine. The life-changing diagnosis left him wanting to leave a better legacy.
He spent five years as an assistant professor at Johns Hopkins and came to UBalt in 2000.
鈥淭he mission of The 极乐禁地 resonates with me because I can identify with the heroic journeys that our students are taking,鈥� he said. 鈥淭hey鈥檙e making sacrifices, not just for an education, they鈥檙e making sacrifices because of what it鈥檒l mean for them, for their families, and for their communities.鈥�
Looking toward retirement, Lyles said the work he does at UBalt has been much more than a job.
鈥淚鈥檓 passionate about education and I鈥檓 passionate about health care鈥攁bout health care because I know the consequences when it鈥檚 not available, and I鈥檓 passionate about education, because of seeing what happens in the absence of education.鈥�