Robert E. Brown is an associate director of the Center for Community and Economic Development (CCED), Michigan State University Outreach and Engagement. He brokers, facilitates, and participates in university/community partnerships that are scholarly, community-based, collaborative, responsive, and capacity-building for the public good. Staffing the CCED Flint Office, Brown works with community partners across multiple sectors to:
- Co-create systemic engagement platforms that link science and community wisdom for transformational change
- Co-create collaborative platforms with action protocols - iterative, strategic action across community and academic networks
- Frame and operationalize engagement within developmental and ecological contexts
- Co-create collective impact by combining human development, community development, and economic development
Brown is a husband and father, a resident of the great city of Flint and, a Board Member of WOW Outreach. He is also a core team member of the national Strategic Doing Institute, and helped to found Neighborhoods Without Borders, a community-based network that uses an asset-based approach to work on critical issues that improve the overall quality of life in Flint neighborhoods.
Brown has a master’s degree in public administration from Western Michigan University.
Recent Publications
McNall, M. A., Brown, R. E., Barnes-Najor, J. V., Doberneck, D. M., & Fitzgerald, H. E. (2015). Systemic engagement: Universities as partners in systemic approaches to community change. Journal of Higher Education Outreach and Engagement, 19(1), 7-32.
Recent Reports
Brown R. (2012, May). Neighborhoods Without Borders: Strategic Doing case study. West Lafayette, IN: Strategic Doing National Design Team.
Brown, R. (2012, January). Infancy to Innovation whitepaper. Lansing, MI: Capital Area Infancy to Innovation.
Recent Presentations
(April 2024)
Demonstrating impact: Data and Stories Shared in an Annual Community Engaged Learning Index
Brewer, S., Brown, R., & Snitgen, M. (2024, April 10). Demonstrating impact: Data and stories shared in an annual community engaged learning index [Knowledge to action workshop]. Campus Compact Conference (Compact24), Denver, CO.
(May 2016)
Despair and hope: The story of Strategic Doing in Flint
Brown, Robert E.
Presented at the National Strategic Doing Conference
University of North Alabama, Florence, Alabama
(September 2015)
Systemic engagement: Universities as partners in systemic approaches to community change
McNall, M., Barnes-Najor, J., Brown, R. E., Doberneck, D. M., & Fitzgerald, H. E.
Paper presented at the Engagement Scholarship Consortium Annual Conference
University Park, Pennsylvania
