Mitch Emmons (emmonmb@mail.auburn.edu)

BROWN NAMED CHAIR OF BOTANY AND MICROBIOLOGY AT AU

AUBURN -- Alfred Brown, a member of the Auburn University faculty since 1980, has been named chair of the Department of Botany and Microbiology in the College of Sciences and Mathematics.

Brown's appointment was effective Oct. 1, said Dean Stewart Schneller.

Brown holds the rank of associate professor and since 1993, has been director of the Electron Microscope Facility in the Rouse Life Science Building.

"I hope to improve and enhance molecular and microbiology and the plant sciences and to increase the resources available to those areas," he said. "I also will emphasize cooperation with the Department of Zoology and Wildlife Sciences and the College of Agriculture to build and strengthen the biological sciences across campus."

Brown, who received his doctorate in microbiology from the University of California at Los Angeles, has a strong commitment to teaching. In addition to serving on numerous graduate faculty committees, he has written several books and manuals and has developed courses and curricula in such areas as photosynthesis, applied and environmental microbiology, biomembranes and general microbiology.

He advises 30 undergraduate microbiology majors and six molecular biology majors.