One of the all-time greats in Millersville lacrosse history,
Brenda Bannan-Ritland was a record-setting scorer during her outstanding career wearing the Black and Gold.
Bannan-Ritland improved each season, and by the time she concluded her varsity service, she was unquestionably a premier NCAA Division II laxer.
After scoring only nine goals as a freshman, the West Chester native exploded onto the scene as a sophomore with 38 goals and 13 assists. In 1985, she tallied 52 goals and 12 assists and became Millersville's first NCAA-II All-American. She contributed even higher numbers in her senior year (1986) with a then-club record 62 goals--that total is the third highest in 'Ville season history.
In 1986 against Shippensburg, Bannan-Ritland set a then-single match mark for goals (9), and she tallied eight goals on five other occasions.
Bannan-Ritland scored 161 career goals, breaking the previous mark at the time by 62, and set the standard for future Marauder laxers to reach. Since she graduated in '86, seven other 'Ville players have hit the century mark in goals, and only Hall of Famer Cherie Meiklejohn Spilis (174 from 1987-90) and Stephanie McClay (163 from 1985-88) have pocketed more tallies.
What makes Bannan-Ritland's offensive marks distinctive is that she played in only 39 career matches--her 4.1 goals-per-match average is the finest in Millersville history.
A three-time Brine all-region selection (1984-86), Bannan-Ritland also earned All-PSAC honors following her junior and senior years.
After she graduated from Millersville, Bannan-Ritland has had a distinguished career as an educator. She earned a master's degree from Bloomsburg University, where she was a graduate assistant for the BU Institute of Interactive Technologies.
At Penn State University, she served as an instructional designer and graduate assistant at the PSU Nutrition Center on the University Park campus. In 1995, she received her doctoral degree in instructional systems.
During the 1995-96 academic year, Bannan-Ritland served as assistant professor of instructional technology at the University of South Florida's Fort Myers campus. She moved to northern Virginia in 1996 for her current faculty post as assistant director of instructional design and development in the Graduate School of Education at George Mason University.
At GMU, she has taught seven graduate-level courses. A prolific author, Bannan-Ritland has written 16 articles for professional educational publications, has provided multi-faceted presentations in eight conference proceedings since 1993, and has made 38 professional presentations. She has traveled extensively in the U.S. and also has lectured in England.
Bannan-Ritland has produced educational materials in a variety of media, ranging from videotape and interactive video to computer-assisted instruction and virtual reality.
Among her awards are: Phi Delta Kappa Outstanding New Researcher Award (1994), the Constance Dorthea Weinman Scholarship Trust for Graduate Study in Instructional Technology (1994), the Memorial Scholarship Award from the Association for Educational Communications and Technology (1995), and the Paul Welliver Outstanding Graduate Student Award from the Pennsylvania Association for Educational Communications and Technology (1995). Currently, she is a nominee for Cornell University's Millman Promising Scholar Award.
Bannan-Ritland has had extensive experience as a guest lecturer at George Mason, George Washington and Shenandoah universities. Currently, she is an editorial board member for WebNet Journal and serves on the George Mason University Department of Instructional Improvement and Instructional Technologies' advisory board.
Since 1991, Bannan-Ritland has served as a board member and reviewer with AECT and was president of the Central Pennsylvania Association for Educational Communications and Technology in 1995. She is also a member of Pi Lambda Theta and Phi Delta Kappa honor societies.
