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More on Frank Douglas Brown, CSU president 1988-2008

Frank Douglas Brown graduated from Flomaton High School, in Flomaton, Ala., a town of less than 2,000 people on the southern border of the state.

His higher education career began with an associate degree in business administration from Northwest Mississippi Community College. He then went on to the University of Southern Mississippi where he earned his bachelor’s in business administration. After working in private industry for several years, and meeting and marrying the former Jo Ann Nichols of Bessemer, Ala., he went to the University of Alabama for his MBA.

After completing his master’s degree, he went to work for IBM as a systems engineer/marketing representative for three years. He left that career to go back to school and earned his doctorate in Higher Education Administration from Florida State University in 1974.

From there, Brown went to the Alabama Commission on Higher Education in Montgomery, Ala., where he served as associate executive director. He stayed there until 1978 when he went to the University of Houston, University Park, in Texas. Initially, he was assistant vice chancellor for finance and operations and then was appointed interim vice chancellor in 1980.

The following year, Columbus College brought him to Columbus as the young college’s new vice president for business and finance. He was also appointed associate professor of management. He and his family quickly fell in love with Columbus and Frank started an active involvement in the community and in his church, First Baptist Church of Columbus. On Jan. 14, 1988, Dr. Frank D. Brown was appointed the institution’s third president.

New at Columbus College

Brown guided the college through unprecedented growth. Under his leadership, the college became Columbus State University, offering more than 50 undergraduate programs and more than 35 master's or specialist programs. During his final year, he led a staff and faculty of more than 600, and will be the ultimate caretaker for about 7,500 students. 

During his tenure at CSU, the university has developed partnerships with the community, business and industry, education and governments that some say are stronger than any other university in the country. On his watch, the T. Y. Whitley Clock Tower was built in the center of campus, quickly becoming the university’s landmark. Other significant campus growth includes new facilities such as Lenoir Hall, the Lumpkin Center, the Coca-Cola Space Science Center, the Center for Commerce and Technology, the Cunningham Center, the Schwob School of Music in the RiverCenter for the Performing Arts, the Rankin Arts Center in Uptown Columbus, and apartment buildings that now  house almost 1,000 students.  More recently, the university has acquired a beautiful home in Oxford England for study abroad programs and has developed a spectacular downtown campus which includes housing for 350 students in support of world-class facilities for the departments of art and theatre and the Schwob School of Music.

Two CSU landmarks: Dr. Brown and the T.Y. Whitley Clock Tower

The academic caliber of the university has grown also. The D. Abbott Turner College of Business is now among only about 27 percent of business schools in the country accredited by the Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business; and the College of Education was recently re-accredited by National Council for Accreditation of Teacher Education. Additionally, the nursing, art, theater, music and counseling programs have all achieved national accreditation in their disciplines, a mark of clear distinction in academic circles.

The most recent indication of the university’s level of respect may be the success of CSU’s capital campaign, An Investment in People.  When the campaign was first being considered in the late 1990s, many considered the originally proposed goal of about $35 million too ambitious. At its conclusion, the campaign exceeded $100 million, thanks to an unbelievably supportive community, a wide-reaching team of dedicated volunteers and the partnerships established over the years. 

Frank Brown has been a tireless volunteer, as evidenced by his being named 1994’s Volunteer of the Year by the Lung Association of Georgia.  He has been active in many civic organizations, including serving on the boards, or as an officer, of the American Lung Association, American Red Cross, Association of the United States Army, the Rotary Club of Columbus, Georgia Council on Economic Education, the First Baptist Church of Columbus, United Way, the Columbus Symphony, the Greater Columbus Chamber of Commerce and the Boy Scouts of America.

The Browns, Frank and Jo Ann, live in Fortson. They have two grown children, April and Jay, and two grandchildren.