Brown Confirms Retirement Plans

Dr. Robert (Bob) Brown, dean of the College of Natural Resources since 2006, confirmed that he will retire by early fall.

Before joining NC State, for 13 years Brown led the Wildlife and Fisheries Sciences Department at Texas A&M University, where he was also director of the Institute for Renewable Natural Resources and Coordinator of the Gulf Coast Cooperative Ecosystem Studies Unit. He headed the Wildlife and Fisheries Department at Mississippi State University from 1987-93. He was a faculty member at Texas A&I University in Kingsville from 1975-1987, serving as a research scientist with the Caesar Kleberg Wildlife Research Institute.

Brown has served in a number of professional leadership roles. He was national president and fellow in the Wildlife Society, president of the National Association of University Fish and Wildlife Programs, chair of the Board on Natural Resources of National Association of State Universities and Land-Grant Colleges,  professional member of the Boone and Crockett Club and chair of the external review panel of the Sustainable Forestry Initiative.  He retired as a lieutenant colonel in the Marine Corps Reserve. He served as an adult leader in the Boy Scouts for 18 years.

Brown received a B.S. from Colorado State University. After a tour in Vietnam with the Marine Corps, he earned a Ph.D. from Penn State University.

Brown and his wife will remain in the Raleigh area after his retirement. They recently established the Bob and Regan Brown Endowed Scholarship in Fisheries, Wildlife and Conservation Biology to provide support for incoming freshman, starting this fall.

NC State is moving forward with a national search for Brown’s successor. Provost Warwick Arden has appointed Blanton Godfrey, dean of the College of Textiles, to lead the search.