Having tallied nearly 50 years of service to the University of Colorado and the public, former CU President Hank Brown will now play a key role in the future of leadership in the state as the Quigg and Virginia S. Newton Endowed Chair in Leadership at the University of Colorado at Boulder.
Brown was named to the post on March 27.
"I am pleased to be named to a chair that honors a visionary former CU president and Denver mayor," said Brown. "I hope to carry on Quigg's legacy in helping to educate new generations of leaders for our state, our nation, and the world. I am also eager to once again be part of the wonderful work that happens at CU-Boulder."
In his new role, Brown will also establish a Center in Leadership Development that will support, complement and consolidate leadership programs on the campus such as the President's Leadership Class, the Chancellor's Leadership Residential Academic Program and the Leadership Certificate Program. As director of the as yet unnamed center, Brown will be charged with bringing notable leaders from government, business, higher education, the public sector and the United States military to CU to lecture and to meet with students and faculty. The ultimate goal is to establish a "leaders in residence" program whereby national and international leaders will spend from a month to a semester teaching courses, giving campus and community lectures and advising students about leadership paths.
"The appointment of President Brown is an investment in the future of Colorado," said CU-Boulder Chancellor G.P. "Bud" Peterson. "As we have seen with his stewardship of the University of Colorado system these past three years, leadership can transform and reshape an institution. We are very fortunate that President Brown will help us cultivate the characteristics of outstanding leaders in our students, and we are honored to have him formally join the faculty here at CU and also to have his continuing influence upon Colorado communities."
In March 2003, Quigg and Virginia Newton, CU-Boulder and the Boettcher Foundation established the endowed chair in leadership to pay tribute to Mr. Newton's extraordinary leadership throughout the region. Since then, the El Pomar Foundation and other individuals have joined in support of the chair. Newton served as Mayor of Denver from 1947 to 1955 and as the university's eighth president from 1957 to 1963.
At CU, Newton was instrumental in revitalizing the honors program, education, music, history, economics, psychology and English. He was proud of the campus's advancements in interdisciplinary work, such as the Institute of Behavioral Science, the Joint Institute for Laboratory Astrophysics, the Institute for Arctic and Alpine Research and the Laboratory for Atmospheric and Space Physics. International education was also a high priority for Newton, who helped bring greater emphasis to international activities at CU. President Newton died in 2003.
Virginia Shafroth Newton, wife of Quigg Newton, is a third-generation Colorado native. "Ginny" Newton received an A.B. from Vassar College, an M.A. from the University of Colorado and a Ph.D. from New York University. She taught piano on a part-time basis for 18 years, worked as a counselor and as a consultant in inner-city schools in New York City, and later as a research consultant to the Rockefeller National Commission on Humanities at Stanford. She served as a trustee at Vassar College and as director on the boards of the National Camp Fire Girls and the Colorado Endowment for the Humanities.
Brown holds a tenured appointment in political science at CU-Boulder and will teach a course in law through CU-Boulder's "Maymester" program this coming May. He is a 1961 graduate of CU-Boulder, where he served as student body president - the first person ever to serve as both CU student body president and CU president. He also earned a law degree from the CU School of Law in 1969 after service as a Navy pilot in Vietnam from 1962 to 1966.
Brown served in the Colorado Senate from 1972 to 1976 and was elected to the U.S. House of Representatives in 1980, where he served until 1991. In 1990, he was elected to the U.S. Senate from Colorado, serving one term. From 1998 to 2002, he served as president of the University of Northern Colorado. In April 2005, Brown succeeded Elizabeth Hoffman as the president of the University of Colorado on an interim basis. The regents named him to a permanent appointment in the post in May 2006. He is credited with restoring public confidence in the University of Colorado through a series of measures centered in openness and accountability, and left the presidency on March 10, 2008.