GMercyU Professor Honored by New Jersey Senate and General Assembly
The New Jersey Senate and General Assembly recognized GMercyU Adjunct Professor, James Brown, PhD, with a Joint Legislative Resolution honoring his work helping many colleges and universities, including Gwynedd Mercy University, transition their courses online amid the coronavirus pandemic.
Dr. Brown has spent much of his time the past year evaluating online courses and sharing his wisdom conducting fully online courses to ensure that students are gaining the crucial lab experience and knowledge they need in an online format.
The Joint Legislative Resolution described his work as "an essential boon to higher education, especially during the COVID-19 pandemic."
Dr. Brown has also shared his expertise across the country, delivering the Keynote Address entitled "Home-Based Hands-On Learning in Science" at the Summer 2020 Virtual Workshop hosted by Morgan State University and the National Science Foundation. His address focused on making online science more accessible with respect to race, equity, diversion, and inclusion.
Additionally, he delivered a talk on "Opening Online Laboratory Science Courses to a World Community Suffering from the Coronavirus Pandemic." This focused on converting face-to-face laboratory science courses to courses taught completely online including the laboratory component in the harsh environment where colleges and universities were forced to shut down their campuses and teach completely online.
Dr. Brown's pioneering work started long before the coronavirus outbreak.
"I was one of the first to teach science completely online more than 20 years ago which led to the nickname 'The Godfather of Online Science.'" recalls Dr. Brown. "It is a true honor and blessing."
In the 1990s, members of the CDC and the Association of State and Territorial Public Health Laboratory Directors recommended his online microbiology course to members of the public health laboratory communities to those who never had a microbiology course.
Dr. Brown has been teaching for GMercyU since 2014. He received his MS and PhD in microbiology from the Waksman Institute of Microbiology at Rutgers University and an additional MS in Health Sciences from New Jersey City University. Dr. BrownHis experience includes serving as Director of Microbiology for Roche, Assistant Commissioner of Health for New Jersey overseeing the Division of Public Health and Environmental Laboratories, and Dean of Science, Engineering, Health Sciences and Human Performance for Ocean County College. He also served as the President and a current Executive Board Member of the New Jersey Public Health Association.