Brown University - Liber Brunensis Yearbook (Providence, RI)

Page 22 text:

GREAT-GRANDSON of Nicholas Brown, Jr., after whom the University was named in 1804, Mr. John Nicholas Brown has ably served Brown for many years and now holds the prestigious position of Secre- tary of the Corporation of the University, Mr. Brown, an honorary member of the class of 05, first became connected with the University as a member of the Board of Management of the John Carter Brown Li- brary, which was originally the Brown family library. Elected to the Board of Trustees in 1930 and to the Board of Fellows in 1985, he is presently chairman of the Planning and Buildings Committee which is in overall charge of the physical needs of the University and is responsible for general planning, choosing ar chitects, and checking of designs and bids. Calling himself a frustrated architect he is an honorary member of the American Institute of Architects, Mr. Brown insists that Brown should have a beautiful campus; and he has been a moving force in develop- ing the striking buildings recently erected here. Mr. Brown feels strongly that final decisions about the University must be made by an outside board. While he believes that it is healthy and good for the Corporation to meet more with students, it is, he says, not the function of either the students or the faculty to run the University. According to M. Brown, most students do not realize that the trustees spend an enormous amount of time and resources, rewarded only by the satisfaction of helping a good cause. Since graduating magna cum laude from Harvard, where he was a member of Phi Beta Kappa, Mr. Brown has been an outstanding participant in varied activities. He is president of the Counting House Corporation and a director or officer of several other business corporations. A devoted student and patron of the arts, he has been president of the Byzantine Institute, treasurer and fellow of the Medieval Acad- emy of America, and a fellow of the American Acad- emy of Arts and Sciences. For his work in preserving works of art in Europe after World War II, the French government awarded him the Legion of Honor, and the Belgian government presented the Order of Leopold II. President Truman appointed him Assistant Secretary of the Navy for Air in 1946, and he served in Washington until 1949. At this time, he is a regent of the Smithsonian Institute and is chairman of the National Portrait Gallery Com- mittee and of the Armed Forces Museum Advisory Board. With a record of service and achievement behind him that would be the pride of any man, John Nich- olas Brown continues to make z great contribution of energy and ability to Brown and to many other ac- tivities.

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A MONK'S CELL would probably have more generous proportions than the office in which Lloyd W. Cornell, Jr., administers the more than one million dollars in financial aid given to Brown University students every year. Such an office, however, suits well the warm and friendly personality of Brown's director of fi- nancial aid. His personal approach to each stu- dent's case typifies the method employed by the Financial Aid Office in judging financial need. Although computers at the Educational Testing Service at Princeton make all the initial compu- tations, Mr. Cornell's office reviews each calcula- tion for accuracy and judgment and makes changes in about a quarter of the cases. This touch is the same as that employed in the yearly review of financial aid. We have no mecha- nistic approach; the emphasis is on individual abilities. A Brown graduate of the Class of 1943, Mr. Cornell returned to Brown in 1947 as an admis- sions officer. He served in various capacities in the admissions and financial aid offices until 1962, when he was appointed to his present post. His eighteen years of continuous service testify to his fondness for an exciting place to work. He cites the growth and expansion in the Wriston and Keeney eras of both the amount of financial aid and the proportion of financial aid to charges. While the scholarship growth has kept pace with the doubling of tui- tion in the past ten years, the amount of money loaned to undergraduates has increased seven- fold. Thus, while Mr. Cornell sees no limit to tuition raises, he feels that financial aid will continue to increase so that very few qualified students will be lost for financial reasons. He notes that in the past eighteen years the Univer- sity has enrolled more students at higher tui- tions, but We are doing more to help them. Our biggest problem is still not being able to solve the problems of everyone admitted. But Mr. Cornell has the answer for that problem: Hard work, he says with a wry smile.

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A BUSINESSMAN in an academic society, William Nash Davis says jokingly that this raises no problems at least none that money can't solve. As director of plant, housing and food operations, Mr. Davis works under the Vice-President of the University; among those who find him directly above them in the chain of command are Mr. Hill, Mr. Dunham, and Mr. Daggett at Brown and Miss Law at Pembroke. A 1931 Cornell graduate, Mr. Davis spent several years in private business and ten years as housing supervisor at M.I.T. before coming to Brown in 1947. President Wriston hired him at that time to help consolidate dining lacilities in Sharpe Refectory. With the opening of the Wriston Quad in 1951, Mr. Davis also took on the task of overseeing residence halls. Then in 1955, he assisted Mr. Keeney, Mr. Durgin, the architects, and a student board in plan- ning the West Quad. Taking control of the Building and Grounds department six years ago, Mr. Davis added the responsibility for all academic buildings to his previous concerns of residences and food opera- tions. His job today includes budgeting and expendi- tures in all these fields. Mr. Davis feels that Brown's expansion under President Keeney has been well organized and well directed, due to the fact that specialists have been hired in each necessary field. He notes that a net of some 100 acres of land have been acquired in the past ten years, and that the development in general has been directed by a well co-ordinated team. Personally, Mr. Davis likes to think of himself as basically an educator, since education comes first in an educational corporation. He enjoys talking to students and misses the close contact he had with undergraduates when he was manager of dining halls. When we get to the point where we can't listen, he says, it's time to fold up the tent and get out.