Dr. Brown is taking a short-term professional leave of absence from her faculty position as Associate Professor of Educational Leadership and Policy Studies in the College of Education at the University of Missouri St. Louis, where she teaches graduate courses in K-12 educational administration and doctoral courses in educational research and policy. Her main research interest is education policy and collaborative partnerships between schools, universities and communities. She holds a Ph.D. in Education with an emphasis in teaching and learning from the Graduate School of Arts & Sciences of Washington University in St. Louis (1994). From 1999-2006, Dr. Brown served on the Board of Directors of the Holmes Partnership, a national consortium of universities, schools, and professional associations committed to reform in schools and in teacher education. She was also a Fellow of the Public Policy Research Center at the University of Missouri St. Louis in 2003.