41 // The Legacies of Elon’s Leaders
The Legacies of Elon’s Leaders // 42
GUIDING THE NEXT GENERATION OF ELON LEADERS
PHOTO BY ASHLEY BARNAS
Jim Brown PHOTO BY ASHLEY BARNAS
About 20 wide-eyed freshmen stare nervously at Jim Brown during the first few days of his global experience class. Here’s a secret to those students – he’s nervous too. “The first couple days in class I’m still always nervous,” Brown said. “The only thing that saves me is that I know that the students are nervous, too.” Brown began teaching at Elon in 1994 after he graduated from the University of Minnesota with his master’s in history. “I always liked history, never thought I could make Any money it, but in the end it’s what I always loved to do,” Brown said. He may have always loved history, but he never immediately felt that way about teaching. Even after he applied to graduate school, he said he never imagined himself in front of a classroom. Luckily for Elon, this has changed. Brown said the best thing he has been involved with is the Periclean Scholars program. During the first year, with the class of 2006, Brown helped teach the beginning class. But, he became the sole advisor for the class of 2007. The class of 2007 focused on working in Honduras. In this project, Brown led a group of students to Mario Catarino Rivas Hospital in San Pedro Sula. In addition, the class worked with an NGO that takes children from disadvantaged or abused homes and have them work on a farm. The students worked with this group as well during their trip to the country. “You have a class full of people that are really passionate people that are doing something,” Brown said. “They all want to be in the class. It’s like a class of passionate majors. They are engaged and want to be involved in some way. I would just come out of that class energized.”
For a man who has led so many since his time at Elon, the leader who has most inspired him is not a historical figure, but someone a lot younger – his daughter. During her junior year of college, Brown’s daughter was diagnosed with cancer. “She didn’t drop out and finished on time,” he said. “Everything she went through she was so strong. It’s amazing that she could be as strong as that.” It’s quite obvious that Brown’s inspiration shines through during teaching. He said his most memorable work since he has been at Elon has been with the Periclean Scholars, but this energy and passion he talks about with the program, he often feels this while teaching during his global experience class. Each professor who teaches the class structures it differently. For Brown, he chooses several topics and his class delves into analyzing them and looking for answers to the important questions. “I think a lot of global is thinking, understanding those different perspectives,” Brown said. During this class Brown hits on some pretty heavy topics including genocide, HIV/AIDS and Islamic fundamentalism. At the end of each semester, Brown has students write a paper about whether or not the students were changed by the class. “At the end of the semester the papers are always pretty moving,” he said. “That’s the immediate response (I see).” For anyone who sits through Brown’s global experience class, one or two things tend to happen – they go back to their regular lives or they enter the world and take what they learned and make changes. “To see students two, three years down the line and they still talk about what you learned about or the skills they learned,” Brown said, “that’s what keeps you coming back.”
Story By Pam Richter
GET TO KNOW Jim Brown Elon Arrival: 1994 Hometown: Alexandria, VA “Both tears and sweat are salty, but they render a different result. Tears will get you sympathy, sweat will get you change.” (Jesse Jackson)