Professor David W. Brown has been named Klein College’s first Diversity Advisor to the Office of the Dean. The announcement was made at a collegewide celebration honoring the college’s selection as the recipient of the Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication Equity & Diversity Award.
Klein College was honored at the AEJMC convention last summer, recognized for the diversity of its faculty, staff and students, and for the clear presence of the values of equity and inclusion in the curriculum and programming of the college.
"I'm enormously proud of our efforts and of our results," said Dean David Boardman. "The numbers are just part of the story; these are fundamental values that are reflected in our curriculum and our culture."
Boardman described the college’s new senior staff position and introduced Brown at an award ceremony Monday afternoon.
“This afternoon’s Celebration of Equity and Diversity gives us all a moment to reflect on our ongoing commitment to inclusion at every level,” Boardman said. “But I know we can all do more. I couldn’t be more thrilled to welcome Professor Brown to my Cabinet to continue his work there.”
In addition to his new leadership role, Brown will continue his work as an assistant professor in the college’s Department of Advertising and Public Relations. He will also provide strategic marketing direction to the University’s IDEAL (Institutional Diversity, Equity, Advocacy and Leadership) Office.
“I am incredibly honored to be selected for this position,” Brown said. “I have worked to pursue diversity and inclusion throughout my life and career, and to assume such a responsibility for an institution like Temple is both an honor and a privilege.”
Brown has previously won the National Black Public Relations Society’s Ofield Dukes Educator Award, and he was the first African American to win the Public Relations Society of America’s David Ferguson Outstanding Contributions in Education Award. When he receives the Philadelphia Ad Club’s Pinnacle Award this Thursday, he will become the first African American inducted into both the city's PR hall of fame and its advertising hall of fame.