Dr. Cheryl Royster Branker is a Raleigh native. Upon graduation from Sanderson High School in 1973, she enrolled in the University of North Carolina at Greensboro and completed a Bachelor of Arts degree in Drama/Speech with a Concentration in Speech Pathology and Audiology in 1977. She then obtained a Master of Arts degree in Communication Sciences from the City University of New York – Queens College in 1979. Her thesis was entitled, Two Language Disordered Children and Their Comprehension of Indirect Directives. NC State University awarded the Doctorate in Adult and Community College Education with an emphasis in Higher Education Administration to her in 1997. Dr. Branker’s dissertation was entitled: "An Inquiry Into College Students With Learning Disabilities: Why Are They Successful?"

After receiving her Masters degree and returning to Raleigh, Dr. Branker became the Head of the Speech Therapy Department at Hillhaven Sunnybrook Convalescent Center. Employment then followed with Wake County Public Schools where she was a speech/language pathologist until 1993. In the fall of that year, she became the Clinical Supervisor of the Speech, Hearing and Language Clinic in the Department of Communication at NC State University, as well as a lecturer teaching the Clinical Observation and Practicum classes. While at NC State, Dr. Branker has twice been the recipient of the Outstanding College of Humanities and Social Sciences Faculty Award for Advising. She became Assistant Head of the Department of Communication in July 1998, staying in that position until she became Director of the DSO in July 2000. In October 2005, as a result of the reorganization of the Office for Equal Opportunity & Equity, Dr. Branker became the Associate Vice Provost for Equal Opportunity and Equity and Director of Disability Compliance. She also serves as the university's ADA Coordinator and Section 504 Officer.

Dr. Branker is a Past Chair of the NC State Council on the Status of Women and a 1997 graduate of the BRIDGES Academic Leadership Program for Women sponsored by the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. She has been a member of the Advisory Board of BRIDGES and the Board of Directors of Healthy Mothers, Healthy Babies Coalition of Wake County.