41 // � e Legacies of Elon’s Leaders

Jim BrownPHOTO BY ASHLEY BARNAS

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During the fi rst few days of his Global Experience class, about 20 wide-eyed freshmen stare nervously at Associate Professor of history Jim Brown. Here is a secret to those students – he is nervous, too.

“The fi rst couple days in class I’m still always nervous,” Brown said. “The only thing that saves me is that I know that the students are nervous, too.”

Brown began teaching at Elon in 1994, after graduating from the University of Minnesota with his master’s in history.

“I always liked history, never thought I could make any money it, but in the end it is what I always loved to do,” Brown said.

He may have always loved history, but Brown didn’t immediately feel that way about teaching. Even after he applied to graduate school, Brown said he never imagined himself in front of a classroom.

Luckily for Elon, this has changed.Brown said the best thing he has been involved in, while

teaching at Elon, is the Periclean Scholars program. In 2006, Brown helped teach the charter Periclean class. The next year, Brown served as the primary adviser of the 2007 Periclean group.

The class of 2007 focused their outreach work in Honduras. Brown led a group of students to Mario Catarino Rivas Hospital in San Pedro Sula. The class also worked with a non-governmental organization that takes children from disadvantaged or abused homes and secures them with safety and work on a farm.

Brown said he fi nds the interest and commitment of Periclean Scholars rewarding.

“You have a class full of people that are really passionate people that are doing something,” Brown said. “They all want to be in the class. It’s like a class of passionate majors. They are engaged and want to be involved in some way. I would just come out of that class energized.”

For a man who has led so many during his time at Elon, the leader who has most inspired him is not a historical fi gure, but someone a lot younger – his daughter.

During her junior year of college, Brown’s daughter was diagnosed with cancer.

“She didn’t drop out, and [she] fi nished on time,” he said. “Everything she went through, she was so strong. It is amazing that she could be as strong as that.”

Brown’s inspiration shines through his teaching. While he said some of his most memorable work has been with the Periclean Scholars, Brown often feels the same energy and passion when teaching his Global Experience courses.

Each professor who teaches the class structures it differently. Brown likes to choose several topics, and his class delves into analyzing them and looking for answers to the important questions. He pushes his students to approach subjects from a variety of angles.

“I think a lot of global is thinking, understanding those different perspectives,” Brown said.

During this class Brown discusses some important and controversial topics, including genocide, HIV/AIDS and Islamic fundamentalism. At the end of each semester, Brown has students write a paper about whether or not they were changed by the class.

“At the end of the semester the papers are always pretty moving,” he said. “That’s the immediate response (I see).”

For anyone who sits through Brown’s global experience class, one or two things tend to happen – they go back to their regular lives, or they enter the world and take what they learned and make changes.

“To see students two, three years down the line and [hear them] still talk about what they learned about or the skills they learned, that is what keeps you coming back,” Brown said.

Story By Pam Richter

HELPING STUDENTS MAKE HISTORY

PHOTO BY ASHLEY BARNAS

GET TO KNOWJim Brown

Arrived at Elon in 1994

Hometown: Alexandria, VA

“Both tears and sweat are salty, but they render a different result. Tears will get you sympathy, sweat will get you change.” - Jesse Jackson

� e Legacies of Elon’s Leaders // 42