Brown University

A new exhibit on view through the summer at Brown’s Stonewall House is shedding light on the history of queer activism on campus. “So That We May Write and Be Heard: Journaling the Lives of LGBTQ Students at Brown from 1983-1998,” showcases a collection of eight collaborative journals authored by former students involved in queer activism on campus. The entries cover topics like self-identity, LGBTQ community and activism during the height of AIDS epidemic, and they are accompanied by present-day reflections from @brownalumni who contributed to the journals. At its core, Caitlin O’Neil, director of Brown's LGBTQ Center, said the exhibit offers current Brown students a unique opportunity for historical and personal contemplation. “They’re able to reflect on the experiences of past iterations of the LGBTQ community at Brown and how vastly different their experiences on campus have been, while also acknowledging how similar some of their hopes and desires were for their futures,” they said. 🔗 Read more at the link in our bio 📸 Image credit: Maggie Spear

Guided by Brown faculty and staff, Rhode Island high schoolers are completing internships on Brown's campus and developing skills while discovering career paths in a wide range of subject areas. One of the many high school interns on Brown’s campus, Providence resident Emma Marion has worked as a part-time creative producer for the past two years, capturing photographs and digital assets for Brown's athletics teams. She credits her mentors in athletics communications for her success enrolling in Syracuse University this fall, where she will study journalism. "At Brown, there are all these incredible people with a wealth of knowledge and experience," she said. "So if there's anything you're interested in exploring, anything you're passionate about, chances are there's a dozen people on campus who've already dove deep into that field. They're talented, they share your passion and they're always willing to help you get started on your journey." #BrownAndProvidence @brownu_bears 🔗 Read more at the link in our bio 📸 Image credit: Nick Dentamaro

June’s full moon sets over the First Unitarian Church of Providence. ✨🌕✨ 🎥 Video credit: Nick Dentamaro

Summer vibes 😎 Happy first day of summer from College Hill 🐻 🌿 #EverTrue

Amid ongoing headwinds facing the health care sector, Lifespan health system and Brown University expanded their affiliation to strengthen top-quality patient care, medical education and biomedical research in Rhode Island. Lifespan will change its name to Brown University Health — to be referred to commonly as Brown Health — later this year through a rebranding effort, enhancing its ability to recruit and retain world-class physicians and reflecting a deeper alignment between Lifespan’s clinical care and Brown’s academic and research focus. The affiliation also includes reciprocal financial investments between Lifespan and Brown, which will continue as separate, independent organizations after the implementation of the Lifespan rebrand. Lifespan President and CEO John Fernandez and Brown President Christina H. Paxson shared details at a June 20 event at Hasbro Children’s Hospital. “We are excited to move forward with robust plans to expand our facilities and improve our systems and technology to be able to compete with new entrants to the health delivery market, such as national chains,” Fernandez said. “This enhanced relationship with Brown is one part of the solution to ensure that our health system can continue to offer the people of Rhode Island the opportunity to access high-quality treatment close to home.” “Brown and Lifespan are taking important steps to strengthen our longstanding affiliation with the goal of improving the health of families in Rhode Island, both through medical advances in care and state-of-the-art medical training for the next generation of physicians,” Paxson said. “These agreements also strengthen the work we have been doing for several years to integrate research and break down barriers for physicians and scientists who translate discoveries in the lab into treatments benefitting patients.” 🔗 Read more at the link in our bio 📸 Image credit: Nick Dentamaro

How did Juneteenth come to be, and why is it such a historically significant holiday? Juneteenth, which commemorates the end of slavery, started back in 1865, two years after President Abraham Lincoln signed the Emancipation Proclamation. On June 19, 1865, Union soldiers arrived in Galveston, Texas to deliver the news that slavery had been abolished and declare the state’s slaves free. Although this declaration did not mark total emancipation, annual celebrations of freedom began to occur thereafter. While Black Americans have celebrated this self-proclaimed day of absolute freedom for more than a century, President Joe Biden officially declared Juneteenth a federal holiday on June 17, 2021. This day signifies the ongoing fight for equality and serves as a reminder of the efforts to dismantle racism in America. Françoise Hamlin, associate professor of Africana Studies and history, explains the origins of Juneteenth and how we can use the holiday to reckon with the nation’s past in order to inform a more just future. — #BrownCurious is a social media series that features Brown University’s community of experts answering the world’s most searched and discussed questions. 📸 Image credit: Courtesy of Galveston Historical Foundation. "June 19, Emancipation Day. Corpus Christi, 1913," Collection of African American photographs Ag2002.1415, DeGolyer Library, Southern Methodist University. "Emancipation Day Parade Lincolnville, Florida (1920s)" by Richard Aloysius Twine, 1896-1974. State Archives of Florida, Florida Memory. "Emancipation Day Officers Of The Day" from Austin History Center, Austin Public Library. “Juneteenth parade in Denver heading north from downtown toward the corner of York and ??? circ 1983” by Newestf (CC BY-SA 4.0). "Juneteenth marching band parade in Austin, Texas, 2009." Jessica Mullen (CC BY 2.0).

At a two-day “datathon” at Brown in early June, local high school students teamed up with computer scientists, health and medical professionals, and other mentors to analyze data, uncover health inequities, and find solutions. By creating collaborations between high school students, data scientists and clinicians, the hands-on event underscored society's pressing need for people from diverse backgrounds to address bias in AI predictions, contribute to a more equitable health care system and mitigate future problems. “Our goal is to educate people about bias in machine learning predictions and how that can impact every facet of our medical lives,” said Jeremy Warner, a medicine and biostatistics professor at Brown and one of the event organizers. #BrownAndProvidence 🔗 Read more at the link in our bio 📸 Image credit: Nick Dentamaro

Nearly 2,000 staff from across Brown University celebrated Staff Development Day on Wednesday, June 12. Now in its 30th year, the daylong event honored staff members’ work to help sustain and advance the University and offered a wide range of opportunities for professional development, personal wellness and community engagement, both on campus and beyond. “This is a wonderful way to encourage collaboration,” Vice President for Human Resources Marie Williams said. “I hope you recognize and appreciate the value you bring to what makes Brown exceptional.” In addition to the many on-campus sessions, tours and workshops, employees had the chance to partner with any of 10 local organizations. Staff also enjoyed a lunchtime farmers market that featured 20 local Providence and Rhode Island businesses. Daisy Ferreira, a registered nurse with Brown Health Services, co-organized an acupuncture session for staff. “It’s incredibly rewarding to give as a gift,” Ferreira said. “Everyone here works so hard, so to be able to give them a moment of peace is the highest reward.” 🔗 Read more at the link in our bio 📸 Image credit: Ashley McCabe

Feeling light and summery inside The Lindemann Performing Arts Center. 📸 Image credit: Nick Dentamaro

In celebration of 60 years of impact, community members from Brown and Tougaloo College, a historically Black college in Mississippi, honored the “historic and unparalleled” Brown-Tougaloo Partnership’s enduring legacy and future at a 60th-anniversary celebration on Thursday, June 6, at the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C. Established in 1964 during the Civil Rights Movement, the pathbreaking partnership between Tougaloo and Brown began as a student and faculty exchange program that aimed to enrich both campuses. Sixty years later, it has grown into a multifaceted relationship and a model for other schools. Undergraduates from Brown and Tougaloo spend time learning on the respective campuses, faculty build research collaborations, Tougaloo graduates pursuing medical careers enroll at Brown’s Warren Alpert Medical School through an early-identification program, and more. “I’m probably among the few that’s been at the table for 60 years, and I can relate to the ebbs and the flows, but the one thing that stands out to me is progress: 60 years of progress,” said Delores Bolden Stamps, who was a first-year student at Tougaloo when the partnership was established in 1964. The partnership exemplifies “the impactful power of people who are committed to making a difference… Don’t leave this room not knowing the power and the impact of this partnership.” @tougaloocollege @alpertmedicalschool 🔗 Read more at the link in our bio 📸 Image credit: Pixelme Studio

Makerlab, a new elective created by Blackstone Academy science teacher Aaron Weinblatt in 2022, brings local high schoolers to Brown University's 10,000-square-foot makerspace. Complementing traditional science courses with a creative, project-based curriculum developed in collaboration with Brown engineering students, Makerlab empowers high school students to transform ideas into creations while learning the fundamental principles of engineering and design. "Tools can be intimidating, and fixing, designing or making something can feel overwhelming,” Weinblatt said. “This class aims to empower students with the confidence to design, fix and make so they can see themselves as problem-solvers and makers. We want students to grasp the engineering design process, embrace iteration and balance goals with constraints. Building grit is also key. Trying, failing and adapting — that's real engineering in action and a profound life skill." #BrownAndProvidence @brownbdw @brownengineering 🔗 Read more at the link in our bio 📸 Image credit: Lynda Curtis

Lucian Sharpe, Class of 2024, is a mechanical engineering concentrator from Concord, Massachusetts. He has been a part of Brown’s club sailing team since his first year and formerly served as club captain. After graduation, he will be working as an engineer building electric boats for the Rhode Island-based startup Flux Marine. — I’ve always tinkered with things since I was a kid. But the whole reason I wanted to do engineering, aside from being a bit of a science nerd, was that it teaches you how to learn really quickly. And that’s one of the biggest things Brown tries to teach us. I’ve been told that if you do engineering, it’s your entire life. I was really excited to see that when I showed up to Brown, I could do engineering and sailing. Sailing is really good at teaching time management and communication skills. That cross-disciplinary education makes me a better candidate when I go to apply for engineering jobs. The engineering curriculum lets me take classes in other disciplines but apply what I’ve learned in engineering. Last spring, I found this archaeology class based on Roman and Greek engineering. And for the final project, my roommates and I built a five-foot catapult that can fly 100 feet. So I got to use everything I’ve learned in engineering and apply it to this archaeology class. Sailing is a really unique sport on campus because the club team gets to practice with the varsity team, so they’re very much integrated. I’ve been very fortunate to get this experience. I probably wouldn’t have been able to walk on to the varsity team [my first year], but I still get to sail alongside these guys, and I’m great friends with them. In sailing, we have these start horns that tell us when the race starts, and they tend to break sometimes. The coach knows I’m an engineer and says, ‘Hey, can you fix this?’ and I can go into the Brown Design Workshop, tinker with it, get it working and bring it back. It’s a really cool way of taking engineering outside of the classroom. — #BrownMyWay is a social media series that showcases the intellectual and extracurricular curiosity of Brown University students, faculty and staff.