Ellsworth Brown to Receive Allumni Achievement Award

Ellsworth Brown to receive Alumni Achievement Award

On Friday, October 15, Dr. Ellsworth Brown, Director of the Wisconsin State Historical Society, will receive the Alumni Achievement Award during a reception from 4:30-6:30 in 157-159 Bernhard.

After earning a B.A. in History and English at Hillsdale College, Ellsworth Brown came to Western Michigan University, where he received his M.A. in History in 1967 under the guidance of Professor Albert Castel. Brown completed his formal education with a Ph.D. in American and Canadian history at Michigan State University in 1975 and began an illustrious career in public history as Director of the Dakotah Prairie Museum in Aberdeen, South Dakota. Since the 1970s he has been Director and/or President of four of major museum, library and archive systems in the U.S.: the Tennessee State Museum; the Chicago Historical Society; the Carnegie Museums and Libraries of Pittsburgh; and, the Wisconsin State Historical Society. He accepted the latter position in June 2004. Nationally respected for his accomplishments and innovations in public history, Dr. Brown has served in leadership roles in over thirty museum and related institutions throughout the U.S., including the American Association of Museums, where he was president 1990-92 and the Smithsonian Institution of Washington, D.C. where he also was a member of the Board of Trustees of the Museum of the American Indian.

Also on October 15, Dr. Brown will discuss the state of the Public History Profession with the History Graduate Student Organization at 12:30.