Spotlight
Summer 2007 Back to Spotlight home page
Culture of Midwestern education entices new dean
A uniquely Midwestern brand of higher education
has drawn Dr. Steven F. Brown to Emporia State
University as the new dean of the College of Liberal Arts
and Sciences.
Brown interviewed at ESU and recognized a quality
of seriousness and intelligence that “far exceeds” other
areas of the country, yet it is matched with Midwestern
openness and honesty, he said. “There is a commitment
to learning, an appreciation of knowledge and education,
that I hope people (at ESU) don’t take for granted,” said
Brown, 54. “It truly does not exist nationwide.”
Brown has just started at ESU, having finished
teaching a summer course in hymnology at the
University of Mississippi. His background is in music,
an interest piqued by his high school choral teacher. As
an undergraduate at Arkansas State University, he was
thrilled to realize he could earn a degree just by singing– or so he thought. “I sat in my first music theory class
and I felt I’d been slapped in the face. ‘This was not what
I’d expected,’” he recalled saying. Nonetheless, he went
on to earn bachelor’s and master’s degrees in music
education at Arkansas State, and a doctorate from North
Texas State University in 1986.
Administrative duties first landed on Brown’s desk while he was at East Central University in Oklahoma. He found it rewarding to empower others, and he soon moved to Northwest Missouri State University as chair of the music department – where he fell in love with the work and Midwesterners. In Mississippi, he rose to associate dean of the College of Liberal Arts. Now he’s back in the Midwest, drawn to ESU’s academic reputation and its emphasis on teaching students.
Dr. John Schwenn, vice president of academic affairs,
said Brown’s experience in involving students matches
ESU’s emphasis on the “first-year experience,” designed
to develop stronger, more committed students from
the beginning. “His engaging personality seemed to fit
Emporia State very well,” said Schwenn.