brownell honored

Published 12:00 am Wednesday, December 2, 2009

CONCORD ó Dr. Richard Brownell, president of Rowan-Cabarrus Community College, has received a lifetime achievement award from the Cabarrus Regional Chamber of Commerce.
Brownell was one of three lifetime achievement award recipients at the Chamber’s annual meeting and 10th anniversary celebration held Jan. 18 at the Concord Convention Center. The chamber honored Brownell for his 30 years of community service and leadership as RCCC’s president and overall record of leadership extending more than 55 years, a college press release said.Brownell is the longest-serving community college president in North Carolina history. In 1977, he assumed the presidency of Rowan Tech, which was then a small technical institute in Salisbury. During the past 30 years, he has led the college’s transformation through enrollment and facilities growth into what is now Rowan-Cabarrus Community College, the first regional multi-campus college in North Carolina.
Prior to his career in education, Brownell served 20 years in the U. S. Marine Corps, beginning with two combat tours during the Korean War and ending after a year on the commander general’s staff during the Vietnam War. He retired as a lieutenant colonel in 1970. During his military career, Brownell commanded every size Marine unit from squad to battalion. Following his retirement from the military, Brownell earned a doctorate in higher education administration at Duke University and has been an educational and community leader for more than 35 years, the press release said. He has served as associate director of the National Laboratory for Higher Education, vice president of planning and research for the South Carolina Two-Year College System and as vice president of the College of the Low Country in South Carolina.Brownell has taught leadership seminars at the University of Texas in Austin, North Carolina State University, and the University of South Carolina, as well as at leadership institutes in both Carolinas. He also has made leadership presentations to the Education Commission of the States, as well as to national and regional meetings of the National Association of Community College Trustees.Brownell was selected as an outstanding president in a 1988 national survey of transformational leaders in American community colleges. In 2001, Catawba College awarded him an Honorary Doctorate of Humane Letters in recognition of his lifetime of service to his country, church and college.