Courtney Brown, a long-time staff member and an alumna of the LBJ School, became director of the Office of Student and Alumni Programs on March 1. She succeeds Sherry Stanford Williams, who retired last September after 12 years as director.
Over the years, Brown--a 1983 graduate of the LBJ School--has been honored for outstanding job performance by different members of the LBJ School community. In 1990, Dean Max Sherman presented her with the LBJ Foundation Excellence Award for outstanding job performance. That same year, the graduating class presented
her with its Purple Heart Award for "performance above and beyond the call of duty." In 1993, a student committee composed of representatives from across the university community selected her to receive the Ex-Students' Association's James W. Vick Texas Excellence Award for Academic Advisers. Most recently, in 1995, she was the recipient of the LBJ Appreciation Award, which recognizes staff members whose initiative, reliability, and attitude make life easier for others at the School.
An active member of the LBJ School Alumni Association, Brown has worked in higher education administration and program development for many years. Following her graduation from the LBJ School, she moved to New York, where she served first as executive director of the Schenectady County Unit of the American Cancer Society and then as Assistant Dean of Admissions at Union College, also in Schenectady.
When she returned to Texas, Brown held various positions with such groups as the City of Austin, the Texas State Treasury, Ray Associates, and the American Association of University Professors.
Since 1987, when she joined the LBJ School staff, Brown has moved up the ranks in the Office of Student and Alumni Programs, where she has served as the coordinator of internships, placement, and alumni affairs; assistant director; associate director; and acting director.
Currently, Brown serves on the National Association of Schools of Public Affairs and Administration's Career Services Committee, a committee she chaired last year. She has worked as a volunteer for a number of civic organizations, including the Meals on Wheels Program and the Austin Center for Battered Women.