Dr. Thomas Brown

Making UCC a "Leader Among Its Peers"

BY SARA MAGNOLA

On a chilly day in December, Dr. Thomas Brown, president of Union County College is watching the snow that has started to fall in downtown Elizabeth, where a new building is being constructed on West Jersey Street. When completed, it will double the size of the college’s Elizabeth campus. He is doing so from the warm comfort of his office, which is located on Cranford’s main campus, via videocam that allows for a live feed right to his PC at any given moment. Such innovative use of technology is impressive – but pales in comparison to the progressive growth and expansions made to Union County College throughout Brown’s 18 years as President.

When Dr. Brown took on the challenge of leading and transforming Union County College (UCC) in 1990, he was well-equipped, having amassed almost 20 years of administrative experience at various community colleges, as well as 16 years of teaching both as an adjunct and full-time professor at institutions that included: William Paterson College Graduate School, Glassboro State College, Hunter College of the City
University of New York and Seton Hall University. After earning his undergraduate degree from University of Maryland, he went on to complete a Master’s and Doctoral program in History at New York University. During that time, he began his teaching career, and published what would be the first of several publications.

A native of Philadelphia, Dr. Brown grew up in South Jersey and currently lives in Plainfield. Former Governor McGreevy is one of his neighbors and an acquaintance, since 2003 when he appointed Brown as Chair of the New Jersey Historic Trust in 2003. Although no longer in charge, he is still on the trust as the treasurer. In addition, Dr. Brown was also a member of the New Jersey Cultural Trust Board, as well as sitting on the executive boards of both the New Jersey President’s Council and the New Jersey Council of County Colleges.

With so much already accomplished, it is even more impressive, that under Brown’s leadership, the then 9,981 student body of UCC, has been transformed to what they are today. UCC is the oldest community college in the state and currently serves approximately 37,000 students every year, on four different campuses located throughout the county. During Dr. Brown’s first two years at UCC, the student commons, Elizabeth campus (which is currently being expanded) and Plainfield campus were all opened and a new campus center pavilion building was added to the Cranford campus. A few short years later Dr. Brown, in affiliation with UMDNJ, oversaw the opening of a regional health education center in Scotch Plains and facilitated the addition of the Hispanic Support Center on the Elizabeth campus.

In addition to offering 89 different programs of study, which includes the largest cooperative nursing program in the state, UCC also provides community residents with countless continuing education opportunities, as well as the Center for Economic and Workforce Development (CEWD), which according to Brown help “people who are either unemployed or under-employed, by obtaining contracts (with employers), teaching them and doing the actual job placement.” Similarly, UCC runs the retail skill center at the Jersey Gardens Mall in Elizabeth, where adjuncts and professors alike train all of the employees. Brown also mentions
a prison program that “trains primarily women in business degrees, so that when they get out they can get jobs (instead of) turning around and coming back in again.”

Dr. Brown’s pride in such community education/outreach programs is evident, as he talks about the recent “Perfect Score” UCC received during the reaffirmation of the accreditation evaluation process. “We are the only one in the state so far in community colleges that had ‘total reaffirmation accreditation’ with no strings or problems. We’re very happy. We were called (by the team) ‘a leader among its peers’. We have a big banner out in front. That’s very, very important to the college.”

He is equally enthused while showing off the aforementioned “view” of the new five-story building being constructed across the street from the current Elizabeth campus. The project, which has been eleven and a half years in the making, will accommodate the ever-growing student body, including the Trinitas nursing program which currently has 1800 matriculated students and a two semester-long waiting list for admission. In addition to housing economic development suites, for federal, state and local affiliates, it will provide students with state of the art multi-media facilities, a 150 person auditorium, classrooms and an expanded library.

As UCC continues to thrive under Dr. Brown’s omnipresent eye; so too will the community continue to benefit.