STAFF SPOTLIGHT

LeeAnna Brown joined the College of Arts Sciences and Engineering in the Spring of 2015. She is an alumna of the University of North Alabama with a B.S. in Biology with a minor in Health (2006) and a M.P.S. with a concentration in Higher Education (2020). Ms. Brown has over a decade of experience in the education sector and has been privileged to work in secondary, postsecondary, and higher education.

Specifically, a portion of her work at UNA includes launching the First 30 Program, which led to participating cohorts graduating high school with 30 hours of college credit. She developed the CASE Student Ambassador Program, established the college’s social media presence, and enhanced recruitment efforts to emphasize studentcentered engagement. Ms. Brown is passionate about helping students build community and strives to facilitate collaborative programming that fosters campus-wide connections, diversity, and student success. In addition, she supervises the First Year Experience Program.

She has received numerous awards including the CASE Dean’s Award of Excellence, the Sigma Alpha Phi National Society of Leadership and Success Excellence in Service to Students Award, and the Presidential Mentors Academy Heroes of Higher Education Award. She is passionate about student mentorship, student success, and empowering students towards academic excellence.

When she is not representing CASE, she enjoys spending time with her family & friends and being active in her church. She is married to Theron Brown Jr. and is the loving mother of Andrew Brown.

Anative of Killen, AL, Caroline is majoring in Interdisciplinary Studies with an emphasis in Health. She began her academic career after high school at the University of Alabama at Birmingham, but matriculated at UNA in fall 2020. She is the recipient of the UNA Vanguard Scholarship, the UNA Memorial Endowed Scholarship, and a UNA Foundation Scholarship and she is a member of the National Society of Leadership and Success. Her leadership roles include positions with Alpha Epsilon Delta, CASE Ambassadors, and Hands of Hope International for which she will participate in a summer internship in Guatemala, June – August 2023.

Caroline has an excellent academic record and will graduate in spring 2023. She has worked as a Lab/Office Assistant for the Department of Biology and as a Patient Care Technician in the emergency Department at Helen Keller Hospital. Her community service work includes projects for Big Brother, Big Sister; Operation Christmas Child; City of Florence Cleanup; UNA Pantry Food Drive; and USERVE SafeHouse Atlanta. In her role as a CASE Ambassador, Caroline has demonstrated extraordinary enthusiasm, a willingness to serve, and an ability to effectively communicate She is exceptional at sharing her UNA story and connecting prospective students to College resources. In addition, as the current Recruitment and Outreach Chair for CASE Ambassadors, Caroline organized a successful food drive in partnership with AED for the UNA pantry and is diligently working to connect with local high school counselors to plan campus visits.

Her future plans include taking a little time off after her summer internship in Guatemala. She will apply for Physician Assistant programs with the goal of beginning that study in summer 2024.

Marissa Childers grew up in Florence, Alabama where she attended the University of North Alabama. She began working with clay during her junior year of college. Until then, she had no clue what ceramics was and never would have imagined it to be something she could become so passionate about. Her original plan was to graduate as an accountant. However, she quickly decided to change her major and received a Bachelor of Fine Arts with an emphasis in Ceramics (2019).

Following graduation, she moved to Snowmass, Colorado to be a ceramic intern at Anderson Ranch Arts Center. This internship opened many doors and gave her the opportunity to work alongside incredible artists, make connections, and learn the ins and outs of what goes into being a ceramic artist. After leaving her internship, she drove straight to Oklahoma to start graduate school at the University of Oklahoma.

Since completing her Master of Fine Arts, Marissa has been teaching classes and workshops at Oklahoma Contemporary, making artwork, and transitioning her studio space into her home.

Marissa was recently selected as an emerging artist by Ceramics Monthly and most recently she has been given a one-year ceramic residency at Arrowmont, one of the top residencies in the country. This spring, Marissa was awarded the Emerging Artist award at the National Council on Education for the Ceramic Arts, one of the largest ceramics conferences in the world. This award is considered one of the highest honors for a young artist.