At about noon on Sept. 28, newly hired Vice President of Student Affairs Charles Brown could be seen wandering the halls of Jupiter’s SG building. He was accompanied by Joseph Isadore, the Jupiter campus’ associate dean of student affairs, as he was introduced to colleagues and campus police officers.
Brown’s visit was one stop on a tour of all FAU campuses. Brown says he hopes to show students that he is always open to their ideas. “It’s nice to see young people come back as adults to the campus, and their whole perspective on life has changed,” Brown said with an excited grin on his face. “That’s the joy of this work,” Brown said.
Brown was signed into office on Sept. 1, and so far he has been busy speaking with students, getting to know his coworkers, reading school records and coming up with new ideas to help further FAU’s development.
FAU is a quickly advancing school, and in 10 years Brown feels that it will be considered on the same level as the University of Florida and Florida State University. He intends to be a part of that progress and plans to stay with the school for “as long as it takes.”
Brown would like to build traditions in campus life for the students. He said he wants to create programs where students can volunteer in their fields of study. He would also like to establish an “awards week,” which would involve an awards banquet, professional speakers and many other events to celebrate students’ accomplishments during the year.
One of the most intriguing traditions would be the naming of FAU’s mascot, the owl. Brown has been speaking with students and asked many of them if the owl had a name. Many didn’t know, and the ones who did say “no” showed no surprise that their mascot was unnamed.
The UP asked 20 random students on the Jupiter campus if they knew the name of FAU’s mascot. 13 out of 20 said, “No, what is it?” The other seven said, “He doesn’t have a name.” He.
Are all mascots male? This is an interesting notion to include in the scholarship process that Brown would like to create.
He would like to start a scholarship program for naming the owl. The person who names it would receive some form of a reward. Of course, the details have yet to be worked out-after all, Brown has only been in office for a few weeks.
Before coming to FAU, Brown held many important positions at other universities. As stated on FAU’s Web site, Brown served as vice chancellor of student affairs at the University of South Florida and vice president for student development and campus life at Wayne State University. He received his Ph.D. in education from Illinois State University.
Brown said he had originally wanted to be a social science teacher, but in 1975 while he was still earning his Ph.D., he worked as a hall director for a year and it made him realize how much he enjoyed student affairs. That was when he first considered it as his profession.
Brown says he loves his job and is very eager to do all that he can to make FAU more of a school of choice for potential students. Brown is a strong believer that students should live on campus for at least one year. He feels that it is a great experience that everyone should partake in. His main goal here at FAU is to help students have the best college experiences possible. “I had a great college experience, and I hope that everyone does,” Brown said with a smile.
