Southside Virginia Resident Takes Advocacy To The House Of Delegates

By Steve Daniel

With her election last year to the 2006 Virginia House of Delegates, Roslyn Tyler ’86 became the seventh Old Dominion graduate in the General Assembly. Tyler, a Democrat, represents the approximately 30,000 residents of the 75th District in southside Virginia, comprising six counties, the city of Emporia and part of the city of Franklin. It’s a two-hour drive from one end of the district to the other, an area she traversed during her campaign to defeat Franklin Mayor Jim Councill in the primary and later when she ran against Republican Carson Saunders Jr.

“I knew that being a female and running in southern Virginia would be quite a challenge, and I’m so glad and blessed that the people had enough confidence in me, being a young black woman at the age of 44,” Tyler said following her freshman year in Richmond.

This wasn’t her first foray into elective politics, however. Tyler served 11 years on the Sussex County Board of Supervisors, including a stint as chair.

As part of her legislative platform, she pledged to work toward retaining teachers in her largely rural district, improving teacher salaries, establishing pre-K programs, creating jobs and enhancing economic development, providing affordable health care and prescription drugs, and improving public safety.

Tyler, a mother of four, has worked the past 15 years as a physical therapist – all but one year at Southern Virginia Regional Medical Center in Emporia. She initially earned a bachelor’s degree in biology from Virginia State University, but decided to pursue a second degree in physical therapy at ODU after her mother suffered a stroke. “At that time, I hadn’t decided upon a career, and seeing how my mom benefited from physical therapy, I decided that was the profession for me.”

She is currently pursuing a Ph.D. in physical therapy at Virginia Commonwealth University and hopes eventually to go into private practice. In the meantime, the Jarratt resident is focused on ensuring that her district’s needs are addressed. “My main concern is to make sure that we’re not left out of the formula in the rural areas.”

Since returning home after her first year in office, Tyler has been scheduling town meetings and inviting secretaries from some of the state cabinets to speak to her constituents, something which she said had not been done before. She added that she is eager to return to Richmond in January for the second year of her two-year term, now that she has learned some of the ropes.

“Everything in Richmond is building relationships. It’s somewhat difficult in your initial year, but you have good mentors and you learn from a lot of legislators,” she noted. “The experience of introducing bills was good for me. A number of my bills were carried over, so I will have the opportunity to introduce them again.”

And now that she’s had the experience of adjusting to the General Assembly’s fast pace, the enormous number of bills and the subcommittee meetings that start as early as 6:30 a.m., it’s a safe bet that Tyler will become an even more effective advocate for her district.