Taking on a New Challenge - Assistant Provost and Assistant Vice President Donathan Brown Leaves RIT | March 2023
Donathan Brown spent three and a half years as assistant provost & assistant vice president, Office of Faculty Diversity and Recruitment at Rochester Institute of Technology. Now his professional journey will take him to Boston, Massachusetts. He has accepted the position of vice provost for Faculty Diversity at Northeastern University. His last day at RIT was March 3rd. This is a wonderful opportunity for Brown and he will be missed by RIT faculty, staff and students.
Keith Jenkins, vice president and associate provost for Diversity and Inclusion explains, “The Pathways to RIT, #IamRITfaculty campaign, Growing Diversity RIT Magazine article are just three examples of innovations under Brown’s watch that enhanced overall visibility of RIT’s Office of Faculty Diversity & Recruitment.”
Jenkins adds, “In his time at RIT, Donathan has had tremendous impact—whether re-designing all OFDR external marketing materials and communications templates; re-designing the social media outreach campaign, including the launch of the inaugural OFDR Twitter Chat; creating and launching a smart phone friendly, mobile platform for capturing prospective faculty information (Scholars Network); establishing and executing a data-driven, nationwide faculty recruitment model; or brokering relationships with several Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs) along with Hispanic Serving Institutions (HSIs). We are grateful for his leadership and many contributions.”
Brown came to RIT in August 2019 as the inaugural assistant provost and assistant vice president for Faculty Diversity and Recruitment, building on the work of M. Renee Baker who led faculty diversity and recruitment efforts from 2002 - 2018. During his tenure, Brown has shown exemplary institutional leadership in the recruitment and advancement of a diverse faculty body, enhancing the work of the Office of Faculty Diversity & Recruitment and RIT’s Future Faculty Career Exploration Program which invites scholars and artists from colleges and universities across the country to visit the campus, network with RIT leadership and present their research. Brown and his team placed a particular emphasis on creating a pipeline with Historically Black Colleges and Universities.
Brown says, “What we accomplished is nothing short of phenomenal-- something that many institutions seek to emulate. In just 3.5 years, we created and implemented a data driven, tactical and aggressive form of faculty recruitment that moves beyond the ‘post and pray’ mentality. The efforts and outcomes of our work have been featured in books and articles, duplicated at other universities, generating great notoriety throughout the country.”
Since its inception 20 years ago, the Future Faculty Career and Exploration program has hosted hundreds of AALANA scholars. During that time, twenty five scholars have come to RIT, including these most recent hires: Dennis Delgado, visiting lecturer, School of Photographic Arts and Sciences, College of Art and Design; Paula Buchanan, Future Faculty Fellow, Health Systems Management, College of Health Sciences and Technology and Katrina Overby, assistant professor in the School of Communication, College of Liberal Arts. They laud the program under his leadership.
Overby says, “The FFCEP program first allowed me to participate and engage in a process that is very similar to a campus visit and job talk. I was allowed to go outside of my comfort zone and teach students I had never met and discuss my research with faculty members, administrators and students. The program has had a lasting impact on my career trajectory and success, as I became the first postdoctoral fellow in my college and department. I've also seen lasting impact through the relationships I've been able to sustain after the program with my fellow cohort members. Finally, I've been able to pour back into the program by providing presentations on delivering job talks with incoming cohorts over the last couple of years. This program has done an amazing job of introducing and exposing RIT to brilliant and innovative scholars.”
Lorraine Stinebiser, director of Faculty Diversity and Recruitment worked closely with Brown over the years. She adds, “Dr. Brown has taken RIT into new spaces, with a particular emphasis on meeting scholars and artists where they are – on campus. We have presented to groups at North Carolina A&T, Jackson State and Howard University among others. Our talks don’t just focus on RIT, but we provide them insight and advice to make their candidacy stronger. While we’d like to see these women and BIPOC scholars at RIT, we truly want them to be successful wherever they land. Faculty diversity benefits students’ experiences across all college campuses.”
Provost and Senior Vice President for Academic Affairs, Ellen Granberg shares that “Donathan has been an outstanding leader for RIT, bringing energy and leadership to our faculty recruitment efforts. He expanded RIT’s national reputation and was key to the work of both Academic Affairs and the Division of Diversity and Inclusion. His innovative approaches to faculty engagement brought several outstanding classes of FFCEP fellows to campus and set a new standard for the future. I will miss his greatly but also wish him the very best at Northeastern where I am sure he will have the same positive impact that he did at RIT. “
Brown says he will miss all of the strong connections he’s made across the RIT campus and in particular his office colleagues with whom he worked closely. Leaving, he says, is bittersweet.
“I’ve had the distinct privilege and pleasure of leading and working alongside a truly dynamic team—the Office of Faculty Diversity and Recruitment. What I cherished and will subsequently miss the most is my team, as I could not have asked for anything more.”
Brown will begin his new position at Northeastern University April 3rd.