James D. Brown
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Todd Wallis
Adjunct Professor
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About Me

Greetings from Dr. James Brown!

Now retired, for nineteen years I served as Superintendent of the College School District in the beautiful Santa Ynez Valley near Santa Barbara, California. I have also served as Elementary and Middle School Principal and Classroom Teacher. I hold a Doctor of Education degree from the University of La Verne in Organizational Leadership. The Association of California School Administrators (ACSA) recognized me as California 2011 Superintendent/Principal of the Year.

During the course of my career, my schools were recognized as multi-award winners: California Distinguished School (2002, 2012); National Title One Achieving School (2002, 2008, 2012); National Blue Ribbon Nominee (2009); California Gold Ribbon School (2016).  Earlier in my career, I served as District Coordinator in a large K-12 school district.  In this capacity, I supervised the district's 12 elementary schools and managed Title One and other state and federal programs.  I also wrote competitive state and federal grants to fund various curriculum and instruction projects. One of these ranked 24th, of only 72 nationwide multi-million dollar Title VII grants, supporting district-wide English Learner programs. 

I also served as President of ACSA’s Mountain-Desert Managers’ Chapter, Board Member of the California Association of Supervision and Curriculum Development (California ASCD), and as an elected Board member of the national Association of Supervision and Curriculum Development (ASCD), and President of Tri-County Educational Coalition. I am a Senior Associate of the California School Leadership Academy (CSLA), a Fellow of the Harvard Principals’ Center at UCLA, and a Graduate of the California Superintendents’ Academy.

My wife and I live in Southern California. In my spare time, I'm a Harley rider and enjoy the California back roads - exploring local history. In the summer of 2018 I traveled 6,000 miles and visited 17 states along Route 66 on my Harley. What a trip!

Before her retirement, my wife Joan was an elementary teacher for many years. We have been married for 44 years and have two grown daughters. Joan now enjoys gardening, composting, creative writing, and family memoir writing, along with various artistic endeavors. My youngest daughter, Lindsay, has blessed us with two granddaughters (10, 13) who live near us. She is a creative wife and mother who has recently returned to college to pursue nursing. My oldest daughter, Jennifer, was a Denver teacher for ten years. She has recently accepted an Elementary Principalship in California . She and her husband have seven-year-old twin boys who keep us all busy.

I encourage each of you to interact with me, with each other, and with the academic learning community. I look forward to reading what you are learning from this course each week.

Dr. Brown


Degrees
(EdD) Doctor of Education - 2010

Education

University of La Verne


Teaching History

Areas of Specialization
Elementary Education Teaching and Learning

Resources