Welcome to the #DragonFamily: Creighton Brown

Meet Creighton Brown, MSUM’s new Assistant Veterans Resource Outreach Director. Creighton connects veterans and veteran-affiliated students with resources on campus to help with their transition to college. 

Q: What drew you to MSUM?
A: I’m a former literature and writing teacher. Having taught at KU, Carleton College, and UND, this position allows me to continue supporting students on their academic and professional journeys – while not having to grade papers! MSUM is also basically in my backyard.

Q: What is one thing that has surprised you about MSUM?
A: How collaborative all of the departments are, which I think is unique among area colleges and universities. People want to work together and look for ways to collaboratively problem solve.

Q: How do you prefer to start your workday?
A: A two-mile dog walk, several cups of coffee, and then when I get to work, I take time to reflect on what I did the day before and plan what I need to accomplish that day.

Q: What is your go-to productivity trick?
A: Coffee, of course. But I like doing things in analog as much as possible – using post-it notes and moving them around as I plan events or manage projects – it gets me standing throughout the day. Writing by hand, too, engages pathways in your brain in ways that doing things on a computer does not.

Q: What is one thing most people don’t know about you?
A: I (along with a team) have won an Emmy. I worked on a documentary about Tom Bass, the first Black cowboy to ride at the American Royal, which is a big annual livestock event in Kansas City, Miss. I did the archival research and worked on the script and in 2013, our documentary won an Emmy.

Q: What’s the best advice you’ve ever gotten? Who was it from?
A: My grandma was the only one of her 13 siblings that went to college, and she did it as a single mother with four kids, so she instilled in me the importance of education, resilience, and grit.

Q: What is one thing, big or small, that you are really good at?
A: Using active listening for creative problem solving.