Brown University

Summer programs make for a lively Brown campus in June, July, August

 PROVIDENCE, R.I. [Brown University] — Each summer, Brown students venture from College Hill to all corners of the world to work, travel, study and research — but even in their absence, campus remains a vibrant community filled with activity, academic and otherwise. Some students do stay, taking summer classes, leading admissions tours and pursuing research opportunities on campus. And summer conferences, events and other happenings bring visitors to Brown from around the globe.

Yet the biggest presence on campus, undoubtedly, is the thousands of young people who come to Brown to participate in learning, leadership and athletics opportunities through the University’s vast array of programs for students not yet in college. This year, more than 8,000 students will journey to campus from all 50 states and 74 countries. Most of them will live on campus for between one and seven weeks.

The majority of participants are high school students who live and learn on Brown’s campus as part of Summer@Brown, choosing from more than 300 non-credit courses that represent the range of the University’s undergraduate curriculum. Adrienne Marcus, associate dean for pre-college and undergraduate programs at the School of Professional Studies (which runs Brown’s pre-college programs) says that outside of class, students experience the independence of college life and participate in a full program of events and activities.

“One of the benefits of having thousands of students on campus is that these same students truly get a feel for what attending college feels like,” Marcus said.

Many aspects of the program mirror the first year of college, offering students the chance to navigate new experiences — from living with a roommate to taking challenging courses with students from varied personal and educational backgrounds — within a safe and supportive environment, Marcus says.

“Participants leave Brown with a sense of self-confidence about their abilities to succeed in new settings by working hard, pushing themselves a bit out of their comfort zone and gaining new experience and knowledge by doing so,” she added.

Increasing access to pre-college programs is central to Summer@Brown’s mission, Marcus says. Last year, students received more than $1.6 million in scholarships; this year, Brown will offer a similar level of scholarship funds. And over the past year, the University has worked closely with the Providence Public School District to enroll more local students, resulting in more than six times the number of participating students from the Providence district compared to last year.

“The pre-college space is one where we can provide incredible opportunities to students who may not know about them or who think that these experiences are not for them,” Marcus said. “Even though we often talk about access in terms of providing opportunities to students who wouldn’t normally be able to take part in them, it’s not a one-way street. It also provides important insight to students who do have easier access to these opportunities, exposing them to many more diverse experiences and perspectives. Having students from a broad range of backgrounds enriches the whole community.”

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Brown honors 20 Providence high school grads with college scholarships

The awards, from Brown’s Fund for the Education of the Children of Providence, will go to college-bound students from the city’s public high schools.

PROVIDENCE, R.I. [Brown University] — Twenty high school seniors from Providence public schools were honored with college scholarships from Brown University’s Fund for the Education of the Children of Providence at an event held at the home of Brown President Christina Paxson on Monday, June 12.

Paxson commended the students for their hard work and perseverance in high school and acknowledged that some of them had contended with difficult life experiences, noting that many come from families new to the United States and are the first in their family to attend college. She encouraged them to view those experiences as strengths.

“As you head to college, know that you bring unique talents and perspectives to campus,” Paxson said in addressing the scholarship recipients at the event. “Trust that your life experience will be valued and welcomed. And when you get there, be your remarkable selves.”

Other speakers included Providence Mayor Jorge Elorza and Doris De Los Santos, executive director of partnership and engagement for Providence schools, who presented the awards. Chris Maher, superintendent of Providence schools, attended along with families, teachers and college counselors of the honorees.

Elorza encouraged students to use their college experience to provide opportunity to others.

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New programs seek to diversify faculty at Brown and beyond

One year after the University’s diversity and inclusion action plan committed to doubling the number of faculty from historically underrepresented groups, two initiatives are already attracting both early-career and experienced scholars to Brown.

PROVIDENCE, R.I. [Brown University] — Just over a year ago, Brown University launched into the work of activating an ambitious, far-reaching plan to create a more diverse and inclusive academic community. Among the plan’s chief priorities was a multifaceted effort to double the number of faculty members from historically underrepresented groups by 2022.

Two initiatives related to that effort — the Presidential Diversity Postdoctoral Fellowship Program and the Provost’s Visiting Professors Program — are in full swing, each representing a distinct element in a broader strategy to boost faculty diversity. The first aims to widen the pipeline of young scholars from diverse backgrounds who will compete for tenure-track positions at Brown and elsewhere in the future. The other focuses more immediately on the present by attracting distinguished senior scholars from historically underrepresented groups to Brown for temporary appointments.

And both are already producing results.

“Diversity is a cornerstone of academic excellence,” Brown President Christina Paxson said. “Through a set of distinctive and purposeful programs, we are seeing success at increasing faculty diversity at all levels — from the most recent recipients of Ph.D.s to academics who are at the peak of their careers as educators and scholars.”

Liza Cariaga-Lo, the University’s vice president for academic development, diversity and inclusion, said that cultivating a more diverse faculty is essential to the creation of an academic community that embodies the social and intellectual diversity of the world and offers students and scholars the highest level of academic excellence.

“These programs are already helping us to meet the goals set out in our diversity and action plan by addressing faculty hiring at multiple points in the academic career pipeline,” she said.

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Entrepreneurship at the intersection of diversity and inequality

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Jennifer Nazareno, a post-doctoral research fellow at the Brown School of Public Health, and Danny Warshay, executive director of the Jonathan M. Nelson Center for Entrepreneurship.
Maxwell Simeon, Class of 2017

The Jonathan M. Nelson Center for Entrepreneurship convened a one-day conference on Monday, Dec. 5, on the simultaneity of agency and inequity of power and privilege in entrepreneurial endeavors.

PROVIDENCE, R.I. [Brown University] — With the launch of the Jonathan M. Nelson Center for Entrepreneurship this semester and the early 2016 release of the Pathways to Diversity and Inclusion action, both entrepreneurship and diversity and inclusion are major strategic priorities at Brown University.

On Monday, Dec. 5, the entrepreneurship center immersed students, faculty, staff from Brown with local community members and scholars from higher education institutions across the country in both of those priorities for a one-day conference titled Entrepreneurship at the Intersection of Diversity and Inequality.

The conference provided perspectives on how entrepreneurship has served as a potential pathway toward inclusion and socioeconomic mobility, particularly in times of exclusion and marginalization.

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