Ralph Adams Brown (1973)
Brown was SUNY Cortland’s first Distinguished Teaching Professor, an award created by State University of New York in 1973. At the time he received the award, Brown was one out of the first nine individuals in the SUNY system to receive such an honor. Before coming to Cortland, Brown served as an assistant instructor at Columbia University and lectured at Yale University, Columbia University, and St. Louis University. Brown served as acting Dean of the College between 1958 and 1961 and as President of the Association of New York State Teachers College Faculties from 1954 until 1956. Brown retired in 1975. In his honor and at the behest of his former student John Fantauzzi ’58 M ’60, the College dedicated the auditorium in Old Main to him on September 16th, 1989.