Caltech to Dedicate Building to Pasadena Educator

Photo of Lee F. Browne with Caltech’s Dining Hall in the background (Photo – Caltech)

The Lee F. Browne Dining Hall on Caltech’s Pasadena campus will be dedicated on Thursday, November 17, 2022, at 4:00 pm.

By Guest Author

The dedication event will take place outside of the Browne Dining Hall.  It will include a brief program with remarks from Caltech president Thomas F. Rosenbaum, local outreach partners, and campus leaders. It is open to all members of the Caltech and Pasadena communities. Refreshments will be served. No reservation is required.

Lee Browne was a Caltech employee and lecturer who dedicated his life and career to efforts that expanded students’ understanding and appreciation of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics. He joined the Caltech community in 1970 as its director of secondary school relations and special student programs; he retired in 1990 as a lecturer in education, emeritus. During his two decades at Caltech, Browne created local outreach programs to expand resources for STEM teaching and tutoring, and he encouraged students from underrepresented backgrounds to pursue careers in science and to consider Caltech as an education option.

Browne was recruited to Caltech by faculty members who had learned of his effectiveness in engaging Pasadena high school students in the sciences. Browne taught chemistry at Muir High School from 1958 to 1964, and then at Blair High School, where he served as science department chairman from 1964 to 1969. He also served as a science consultant for the Pasadena Unified School District.

Browne with the Black Students Union of Caltech, 1975. (L-R) Lorenzo Cotton, Robert Thornton (Co-Chairman), Lee Browne, Richard Eshun, and Gregory White (Photo – Caltech)

In 1979, Lee Brown was elected California chairman of MESA (Mathematics, Engineering, and Science Achievement), a group that helps underserved students achieve success in STEM studies and careers. In 1983, he received the Congressional Distinguished Service Award for his outstanding service to the community.

Brown was a founding member of the Pasadena Eagle newspaper, and he was active with the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP), the National Action Council for Minorities in Engineering, the National Society of Black Engineers, the National Science Teaching Association, and the Phi Delta Kappa Fraternity.

Prior to moving to Pasadena in the 1950s, Browne taught for several years at the Tuskegee Institute in Alabama and at a junior college in the San Fernando Valley. Lee F. Browne passed away in 2010.

In the fall of 2021, Caltech announced the naming of several campus assets to honor individuals who reflect its values and aspirations, and who had a direct connection to and impact on the Caltech community. The dedication is the culmination of the work of Caltech students, faculty, staff, alumni, and others who came together to help chart a future that supports a thriving, supportive, and inclusive community of scholars.

Thursday, Nov. 17, 2022
4:00 pm to 6:00 pm
Lee F. Browne Dining Hall
(Formerly the Harry Chandler Dining Hall)

This article was first published at Caltech website. It was edited for brevity and clarity by Ann Hunnewell with further editing by Kate Bartlett.