In December 2022, Provost Richard Locke announced that effective July 1, 2023, the John Nicholas Brown Center (JNBC) will become a center for advanced study with a primary focus on fostering broad public discussion and disseminating academic research and scholarship across diverse disciplines.

This plan expands the JNBC's scope and mission, elevating it beyond its current offerings of programming and degrees in public humanities, and positioning it as a catalyst for communicating the intrinsic value of academic scholarship to the wider public.

A key component of the plan for the JNBC is the establishment of a new Visiting Faculty Fellows Program which will provide space in the Nightingale-Brown House and time for scholars from across the full range of academic disciplines to pursue their pioneering research and to interact among themselves and with their peers at Brown over the course of an academic year. The Visiting Faculty Fellows Program will be open to faculty working in all of the Building on Distinction Integrative Scholarship themes, from the arts and humanities to the social, physical and biological sciences.

To complement the Visiting Faculty Fellows Program, the JNBC will collaborate with Brown faculty members in aligned fields, organizing a range of dynamic events and activities. Colloquia, monthly public lectures by visiting faculty fellows and workshops featuring experts and journalists from digital media and trade publications will provide platforms for in-depth discussions, knowledge sharing and exploring innovative approaches to scholarship.

The transformation of the JNBC emerged out of discussions conducted about Brown's goals for increasing the strength of its research enterprise across the humanities and the social, physical and biological sciences. By promoting the public dissemination of academic research and scholarship in Brown's areas of academic strength, the JNBC's new mission aligns with the university's strategic plans.

With a rich history of evolution and adaptability since its establishment in 1979, the JNBC continues to embrace the ever-changing landscape of public engagement. This new plan represents the next chapter in the center's journey, building upon its two-decade commitment to public humanities.

Kevin McLaughlin, George Hazard Crooker Professor of English, Comparative Literature, and German Studies, is the inaugural director of the new JNBC. 

He is supported by Maria Sokolova, Center Manager and Ron Potvin, Curator.

This website will be further updated with the latest information about the John Nicholas Brown Center's transformation; please check back regularly for updates.