Hall of Fame Member Biographies

Thomas L. Brown

Oklahoma educators have at times performed both as superb teachers and outstanding administrators; Thomas L. Brown is a living example.  Born in Bartlesville, Tom Brown earned his Ph.D. degree in Business Administration in 1972.    For ten years thereafter he was a professor of marketing at Kansas State University and served as Associate Dean and Director of Graduate Studies in the College of Business at K-State from 1982 to 1984.  He then served as Dean of the School of Business Administration and Economics at California State University-Fullerton until Oklahoma City University recruited him in 1990 to be Dean of the Meinders School of Business.   As Dean he “revolutionized” undergraduate and graduate curricula.  He created the Student Services and Advising Center and dramatically increased enrollment.  He helped to strengthen the international outreach of the Meinders School and its graduate programs reached The People’s Republic of China, Hong Kong, Singapore, Malaysia, and England.  He also was an exemplar of the publishing scholar, publishing over twenty articles and contributing to such organizations as the Financial Management Association, the American Accounting Association, the Academy of Management, the Association for Consumer Research, the Decision Sciences Institute, the American Marketing Association, the Marketing Science Institute, and the American Psychological Association.  For such services he was named the C. R. Anthony Chair of Competitive Enterprise.  In 1995 he returned to teaching duties and remained a Professor of Marketing until 2010.  He retired in 2010 but only for a few weeks; Oklahoma City University called upon him to become Acting Associate Provost.  He did so out of the school’s unofficial motto, voiced by former President Eugene M. Antrim (1923-1934), “The meaning of life is service.”  And his service to the school as Acting Provost was outstanding.  Tom retired from OCU for the second time in 2012.  The Heritage Society is proud to induct Thomas L. Brown into the Oklahoma Higher Education Hall of Fame.