Kenneth Lee Brown (June 15, 1933 – November 3, 2010) was an American

academic An academy (Attic Greek: Ἀκαδήμεια; Koine Greek Ἀκαδημία) is an institution of secondary or tertiary higher learning (and generally also research or honorary membership). The name traces back to Plato's school of philosophy, ...

credited with pioneering and heading the first

undergraduate Undergraduate education is education conducted after secondary education and before postgraduate education. It typically includes all postsecondary programs up to the level of a bachelor's degree. For example, in the United States, an entry-le ...

peace studies Peace is a concept of societal friendship and harmony in the absence of hostility and violence. In a social sense, peace is commonly used to mean a lack of conflict (such as war) and freedom from fear of violence between individuals or groups. ...

program in the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territori ...

. Brown chaired the Peace Studies Institute and Program in Conflict Resolution at Manchester College in

Indiana Indiana () is a U.S. state in the Midwestern United States. It is the 38th-largest by area and the 17th-most populous of the 50 States. Its capital and largest city is Indianapolis. Indiana was admitted to the United States as the 19th s ...

from 1980 until 2005. Brown received the 2005 lifetime Achievement Award from the Peace and Justice Studies Association*. The peace studies major, the first of its field in the United States, had originally been established in 1948. Brown was also an ordained minister within the

Church of the Brethren The Church of the Brethren is an Anabaptist Christian denomination in the Schwarzenau Brethren (german: link=no, Schwarzenauer Neutäufer "Schwarzenau New Baptists") tradition that was organized in 1708 by Alexander Mack in Schwarzenau, Germ ...

. Brown retired in 2006, but continued to teach as a professor emeritus. A resident of

North Manchester, Indiana North Manchester is a town in Chester Township, Wabash County, in the U.S. state of Indiana. The population was 6,112 at the 2010 census. Geography North Manchester is located at (41.003951, -85.772573). According to the 2010 census, North ...

, Brown died of

vasculitis Vasculitis is a group of disorders that destroy blood vessels by inflammation. Both arteries and veins are affected. Lymphangitis (inflammation of lymphatic vessels) is sometimes considered a type of vasculitis. Vasculitis is primarily caused ...

on November 3, 2010, at the age of 77. He was survived by his wife, Viona, and three children. Brown's sermons, speeches, papers, pamphlets, letters, reflections, and satirical pieces have been made available to the public in the PALNI Digital Library Collections http://palni.contentdm.oclc.org/cdm/landingpage/collection/p15705coll26 Documents from 1956, when Brown was a student at Bethany Theological Seminary to 2008, when he spoke at a reception celebrating the sixtieth anniversary of peace studies at Manchester College (now: Manchester University) are included in the collection.

References

1933 births 2010 deaths American members of the Church of the Brethren Deaths from vasculitis Manchester University (Indiana) faculty Peace and conflict scholars People from North Manchester, Indiana Church of the Brethren clergy {{US-academic-bio-stub