Having recently assumed the role of Alverno College president, Christy L. Brown knows that the most important thing she can do is listen.
“To me, you can’t make relationships or create a vision if you aren’t a listener,” she says. “I want to know what everyone thinks is important for me to be doing in the first 12 or 18 months. People care that you’re listening to what they’re saying.”
She also understands that communication is key. After listening to students, faculty, staff, the Board of Trustees, and others, her plan is to develop a comprehensive vision for the college. For Brown, this is not work to be undertaken alone or in a vacuum.
“It has to be a shared vision created with, by, and through our stakeholders,” she says.
The former CEO for Girl Scouts of Wisconsin Southeast believes the mission of Girls Scouts, to build “girls of courage, confidence, and character, who make the world a better place,” is the perfect foundation for her role at Alverno.
“I feel like I’m still going to be doing the same thing, just in a different environment,” she says. “It’s on a continuum of building women’s leadership and helping women and girls find their voices.”
As an African American woman who is married with children, and as a first-generation college student, Brown brings unique life experience to the Alverno presidency.
“I feel like I will be like many of the students who are here. Many of them are first-generation. Many of them are women of color. I understand that everyone has lives outside of this institution,” she says. “We are not monolithic, but it gives me some insight into perhaps what might be in our students’ minds as they come to us and engage with the institution.”
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