Renowned educator known for getting things done joins the staff at Bennett College

GREENSBORO, N.C. – A renowned educator with more than 35 years of experience at research institutions and Historically Black Colleges and Universities is the new Provost/Vice President for Academic Affairs at Bennett College.

Dr. Dorothy Browne assumed her post at Bennett earlier this month and replaces Steve Willis, who served in the position on an interim basis for more than a year.

“We are very fortunate to have a woman of Dr. Browne’s caliber join the staff at Bennett College,” said President Dr. Phyllis Worthy Dawkins. “Dr. Browne is well known throughout academia for getting things done and for making a lasting impact at the institutions where she works. I look forward to collaborating with her and to implementing some of her innovative approaches as we continue restoring Bennett College to a position of greatness.”

Browne earned her Bachelor of Science in Sociology from Bennett College. She holds a Master of Social Work from the University of Pittsburgh School of Social Work, and both a Master of Public Health and a Doctorate of Public Health from Harvard University’s T.H. Chan School of Public Health.

Browne began her distinguished academic career at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill’s School of Public Health, now called the Gillings School of Global Public Health, where she gained tenure and full professorship. While at UNC-Chapel Hill, Browne engaged in teaching, advising students and conducting research in the areas of youth violence, adolescent high-risk behaviors and health disparities in maternal and child health.

She received numerous governmental and foundation grants to conduct research and to develop programs in the prevention of high-risk behaviors and health disparities. Her many publications reflect her research and programmatic interests. Likewise, she continues her involvement in the academic area of maternal and child health as an adjunct professor at UNC-Chapel Hill.

From 2001-2009, Browne was a professor of public health and the senior scientist for Morgan State University’s N.I.H.-funded Prevention Sciences Research Center, which housed the Baltimore institution’s Drug Abuse Research Program, the Summer Research Training Program for Undergraduate Students, the Health Services Research Training Program and the Faculty Fellows Research Program in Drug Abuse Prevention.

Additionally, Browne was co-director of the Morgan-Hopkins Center for Health Disparities Solution, a collaborative initiative with the Johns Hopkins School of Public Health.

In 2009, Browne returned to North Carolina to assume the positions of special assistant to the chancellor and director of the Public Health Institute at North Carolina A&T State University. She went on to serve as dean of the School of Social Work at Norfolk State University and was the inaugural dean of the Jackson State School of Public Health Initiative.

Before joining the staff at Bennett, which was founded in 1873 and became women’s only in 1926, Browne worked at Shaw University in the areas of faculty and program development. She also served as a consultant with California State University’s CHER Institute, an NIH Research Education Program that mentors junior faculty interested in community based and social and health behavior research that enhances health equity among racial and ethnic minority populations.

Browne is the mother of twins. Her son, Brian Browne, is a senior chief in the United States Navy and is stationed in Virginia. Her daughter, Dr. Felicia Amira Browne, is a research public health analyst at Research Triangle International (RTI) in Research Triangle Park (RTP) in North Carolina.

Browne said she’s honored to join the staff at her alma mater, where journalism and media studies, biology, psychology, social work and business administration are the top five majors.

“I am humbled and honored to return to Bennett, after years of having an array of educational experiences and opportunities,” Browne said. “It is this diversity of experiences which allows me to treasure and appreciate Bennett’s legacy and traditions while also working with President Dawkins, the faculty, staff and students to ensure Bennett continues to have relevance in the ever-changing world of higher education.”