The Donald R. Brown papers, a combination of administrative records and professional papers, are divided into three principal series: Psychology, Center for Research on Learning and Teaching, and Inteflex. These series are preceded by some biographical information
Donald R. Brown was born on March 5, 1925, in Chatham, New York. He received his A.B. degree from Harvard University in 1948 after an interruption for military service during World War II. He served in the US Army, European Theater of Operations, 1943-1946, and was among the first American soldiers to arrive at the Dachau concentration camp. In 1951 he received his Ph.D. from the University of California at Berkeley. He began his teaching career at Bryn Mawr College, 1951-1964. While on the faculty here, Professor Brown collaborated with Nevitt Sanford on a famous longitudinal study of Vassar women.
In 1964 Professor Brown accepted a professorship in psychology at the University of Michigan under department chairman, Wilbert J. McKeachie (1961-1971). With a dual appointment he was both professor of psychology in the College of Literature, Science, and the Arts (LS & A) and research scientist in the Center for Research on Learning and Teaching (CRLT).
The student disruptions of the early 1960s inspired Brown to consider alternative educational models. He became involved in assessments of the Pilot Residence Hall Program and was a member of its Standing Committee. In the same vein, in 1967 Brown assisted Theodore Newcomb in establishing the Residential College. Brown and Newcomb conducted a longitudinal study on residential-academic units with a consortium of five universities. From 1964 onward he was a senior research scientist for the CRLT, and the director from 1983 to 1994. The CRLT was one of the first centers of its kind in the country, its dual role encompassing service to the faculty and research on the basic problems and conditions of instruction. Here Brown was instrumental in training teaching fellows (graduate student instructors), in faculty development, and in implementing numerous evaluations on the effectiveness of classroom instruction.
Brown co-directed Inteflex from 1972 to 1994. A joint venture between the Medical School and LS & A, Inteflex offered a combined program for selected premedical students, leading to a medical degree. The intent was to provide a well-constructed humanities program in conjunction with medical studies. Since inception all Inteflex classes, LS & A and standard Medical School classes have been followed in a study of value development and socialization into professional life. This study includes 2-year, 6-year, and 10-year post graduate follow-ups. Through the Inteflex program Brown was able to combine his intellectual interests in understanding the factors that shape students' educational experiences and outcomes with his social and political concerns about educational efforts.
Brown was involved in a variety of activities during his long career, including research fellowships and visiting scholar programs in Europe and Asia. He was a consultant in such areas as: psychology curriculum, designing and implementing curricular programs in psychology; and pre-medicine, liberal arts, and honors programs. Brown's research interests include: non-intellective factors in academic achievement, personality development and the education process, curriculum design and evaluation in higher education, cognitive measures of personality organization, and professional socialization of medical and law students. He published numerous articles in the area of student development in higher education, education in medicine, psychophysics of judgment and cognition, and women's life-span development. Since 1952 Brown and his colleagues carried out a longitudinal study of personality development on two cohorts of women graduates of Vassar College: women from classes of 1925 through 1936, and women from classes of 1957 and 1958.
Throughout his tenure at the University of Michigan, Brown served on many committees, task forces, and editorial boards. For the Department of Psychology he was chairman of the Graduate Program in Personality Theory and Assessment from 1972 to 1984. The Senate Advisory Committee on University Affairs (SACUA) awarded Brown the Distinguished Faculty Governance Award in 1993.
Brown retired from active faculty status on June 30, 1996. He continues to teach occasionally, most recently offering a course entitled, "Why Grandpa Went to War" about World War II.
