David W. Brown, diversity advisor to the Office of the Dean at Klein College of Media and Communication, was named an Institute of Diverse Leadership (IDL) Fellow for the IDL Program sponsored by the Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication (AEJMC) and the Association of Schools of Journalism and Mass Communication (ASJMC). The fellowship program provides diverse members of university leadership an opportunity to learn more about how to advance in their careers into top leadership roles and to help them further prioritize diversity and inclusion in their respective programs.

The IDL Program, formerly the Journalism and Mass Communication Leadership Institute for Diversity, transitioned to its current iteration in 2015. Brown is the first IDL Fellow from Temple University and the first from a higher education institution located in Pennsylvania. This year’s cohort of fellows includes nine other higher education leaders. The program will challenge the fellows to strengthen the skills they have already acquired as communication and journalism administrators while receiving career guidance from an administrative mentor throughout the program.

Brown was appointed to his current administrative position in 2019 following Klein’s selection as the recipient of the AEJMC Equity and Diversity Award in 2018. Brown is also an assistant professor in the college’s Public Relations Department and provides strategic marketing counsel to Temple’s Office of Institutional Diversity, Equity, Advocacy and Leadership. Outside of Temple, Brown was previously general manager of 900 AM WURD, Pennsylvania’s only Black-owned talk radio station. He was named a “Champion of Change” by former president Barack Obama’s administration for his community efforts and has frequently contributed to the Philadelphia Inquirer, Philadelphia Tribune and Philadelphia Business Journal.

“Diversity and inclusion is not something that I do but it's something that I am,” he says. “So you find ways to get that work done and really dedicate yourself to it.”

David Boardman, dean of Klein College of Media and Communication, was one of the nominators for Brown’s fellowship application.

“Since the day he joined our faculty – and especially over the past year, in the newly created role of Diversity Advisor to the Office of the Dean – David has helped elevate issues of diversity, equity and inclusion into the daily fabric of our college,” Boardman says of Brown. “His selection as an IDL Fellow is well-deserved, and will position him to be an even more powerful voice at Klein and Temple University.”

Although the IDL Program will be held virtually due to COVID-19 precautions, Brown believes that the bonds and relationships he will form with his colleagues in the program will be just as meaningful. He is excited to share Temple’s successes as an urban campus while learning more about the unique efforts at his colleagues’ respective institutions.