For Immediate Release
Contact: Traci Morris, t.morris@asu.edu
Tempe, Ariz. (April 8, 2015) – The American Indian Policy Institute (AIPI) is proud to announce Dr. Eddie F. Brown is the recipient of the Silver and Turquoise Ball’s Honorary Leon Grant Award. The Award is given by the Phoenix Indian Center and honors those who have followed in the footsteps of the center’s founder by working to enrich the lives of Native Americans in the Phoenix area and beyond. The award will be presented to Dr. Brown at the 32nd Annual Silver and Turquoise on April 11, 2015 at the Scottsdale Resort and Conference Center.
“I am honored to be among the recipients of the Honorary Leon Grant Award. To have an award representing the name of Leon Grant is most humbling and I will treasure it greatly. Contributing to the health and welfare of American Indian families and children and the mobilization of efforts to address the educational and wellbeing of Indian people must continue to be a priority” states Brown.
Dr. Eddie F. Brown (Pascua Yaqui/Tohono O’odham) youngest of eight children of Homer Brown and Julia Leon Valenzuela, was born and raised in Ajo, Arizona. Over the course of his professional career, Dr. Brown has served at the highest administrative levels of tribal, state, and federal governments and University administrations. His endeavors to ensure tribal sovereignty and strengthening the sustainability of Tribal Nations, American Indian communities and families have been at the forefront of all of his work. Dr. Brown’s commitment to the strengthening of marriages, families and children is reflected in his marriage of 47years to Dr. Barbara Weems Brown. Eddie and Barbara are the parents of 6 children and grandparents of 14 grandchildren.
Dr. Brown’s administrative experiences includes having served as the Executive Director of the Department of Human Service for the Tohono O’odham Nation; Chief of the Division of Social Services, Bureau of Indian Affairs, Washington D.C.; Director of Arizona’s Department of Economic Security; and as the Assistant Secretary of Indian Affairs, Department of Interior, Washington D.C.
Dr. Brown is the Executive Director of the American Indian Policy Institute, a professor of American Indian Studies at Arizona State University and serves as Co-Chair of the National Congress of American Indians, National Research Center’s Advisory Board in Washington, D.C. and serves as a member of the Board of Directors for the Tohono O’odham Nation’s Gaming Enterprise, Tucson, Arizona.
Most recently, Dr. Brown served (2014) on the U.S. Attorney General's Advisory Committee on American Indian and Alaska Native Children Exposed to Violence culminating in the publication report, "Ending Violence So Children Can Thrive."
From 2004 to 2010 he served as the Director of American Indian Studies at ASU and Co-founded the American Indian Policy Institute. He is currently a professor with American Indian Studies and School of Social Work, and serves as the Executive Director of the American Indian Policy Institute at ASU. Dr. Brown is also past member of the President’s White House Board of Advisors on Tribal Colleges and Universities.
Dr. Brown’s university career started at Arizona State University after graduating with his Doctorate in Social Work from the University of Utah in 1976. For eight years Dr. Brown was the Associate Dean of the George Brown School of Social Work, Washington University, St. Louis, Missouri. In 2004 President Crow of Arizona State University invited Eddie, to be a part of creating “the New American University.”
The American Indian Policy Institute at Arizona State University is a tribally driven transdisciplinary think-tank collaborating with tribal governments and Native American entities on policy analysis; technical assistance, training and certification; and facilitating participatory research benefiting communities nationwide.
Founded in 1947, the Phoenix Indian Center is the oldest American Indian non-profit organization in the United States. The center serves more than 6,000 individuals annually by providing services in the areas of education, employment, cultural enrichment, youth leadership and community engagement. While the center is located in Phoenix, it assists members of the American Indian community throughout the state of Arizona and across the Southwest. For more information, visit http://phxindcenter.com and for more information about the Silver and Turquoise Ball, visit http://phxindcenter.com/silver-turquoise-ball/.
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