Assistant Dean Charles Brown with B-STAR students Johnathan and Joshua Christie

Assistant Dean Charles Brown receives Tri-State Diversity Council's Authentic Leadership Award

Charles A. Brown, assistant dean of the Office of Inclusion, Diversity, Equity and Access at Rutgers Business School, was recently honored with an authentic leadership award by the Tri-State Diversity Council.

Dean Brown started at Rutgers Business School in 2013 to lead the Office of Diversity’s programming. Under his leadership, the office has built out a portfolio of programs, including the Pre-College Enrichment Program and the award-winning Business Students in Transition at Rutgers, or B-STAR. The office works to recruit high-performing under-represented students and with B-STAR, to ensure their success once they begin their studies at Rutgers.

The newest program within the office’s Pathways Leading to Undergraduate Success Portfolio is NextUp, a one-day event that provides under-represented high school freshman and sophomores with an introduction to the college admissions process, financial aid and the value of attending business school.

In remarks prepared for the Tri-State Authentic Leadership Summit, Brown said: “Like my students, I take great pride in being genuine, mission-driven and results-focused. I believe that authentic leadership must focus on the long-term investments required to achieve sustainable change and not just short-term gains.”

Brown brings a passion to his work that he recently explained is rooted in his own experience growing up in Newark. As a boy, he lived on the perimeter of the Rutgers University-Newark Campus, but never really had an understanding of what the place was or the opportunities it held. “I see myself in these students,” he said.

"I believe that authentic leadership must focus on the long-term investments required to achieve sustainable change and not just short-term gains.” - Dean Brown

Brown serves not only as a dean, but to the students, he is also a mentor and cheerleader.

“I have the opportunity to sow seeds into the lives of young people from pre-college through their undergraduate journey and beyond,” Brown said. “We are cultivating an army of bold and authentic leaders, unafraid of being themselves, having difficult DEI discussions and approaching problems with an innovative and revolutionary mindset.”

“It’s an honor to experience investments I’ve helped to make in K-12 and college students all over New Jersey, yielding a great harvest of new leaders, intent on blossoming wherever they are planted and leading with their hearts not just their minds,” he said.

Dean Brown was one of seven professionals to receive an Authentic Leadership Award during a virtual awards ceremony on Oct. 15.

 

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