Mark Brown has been named the tenth president of historically Black Tuskegee University in Alabama. He will assume the presidency of his undergraduate alma mater on July 1, making him the first alumnus to ever hold the position.
Tuskegee University enrolls about 2,100 undergraduate and 500 graduate students. African Americans represent 91 percent of the undergraduate student body.
Dr. Brown served in the United States Air Force for over three decades. As a Major General, he served in numerous leadership positions with the Air Education and Training Command, the Air Force Recruiting Service, Air University, and the Air Force Institute of Technology. He held positions at all levels of the United States Department of Defense, including two assignments as congressional liaison to the House of Representatives. Additionally, he previously served as chief financial officer of Air Force Material Command, overseeing 38 percent of the entire Air Force budget.
Most recently, Dr. Brown served as the inaugural president and chief executive officer of the Student Freedom Initiative in Washington, D.C. Throughout his career, he has held various educational positions with the Harvard University Kennedy School of Government, the University of Virginia School of Business, and the Robert and Edith Broad Academy for Urban School Superintendents at the Yale School of Management.
“I am grateful and humbled by the board of trustees, faculty, alumni, students, community leaders, and all of Mother Tuskegee for the opportunity to return home to lead our university into the second quarter of the 21st Century,” said Dr. Brown. “Thanks to the leadership of [retiring president Dr. Charlotte Morris], I am convinced that Tuskegee is well positioned to continue its global impact by producing students ready for leadership in our rapidly changing world, yet grounded in the journey of our forefathers.”
Dr. Brown received his bachelor’s degree in accounting from Tuskegee University. He holds a master of public administration degree from Troy University in Alabama, a second master’s degree in strategic studies from the Air Command and Staff College, a third master’s degree in national security strategy from the National War College, and a doctorate in education from Baylor University in Waco, Texas.
