Samuel Brown

Rotary Stats

Club: Rotary eClub of District 7890 (Northern Connecticut and Western Massachusetts), Fall 2008 – Spring
Been a Rotarian since: Sep 01, 2008

My Rotary Info

How long have you been in Rotary? Estimate if you do not know exact dates.
Two years

List the Rotary clubs you've belonged to.
Rotary eClub of District 7890 (Northern Connecticut and Western Massachusetts)

Have you held district or int'l offices?
Yes

If yes, list them:
Chair of Rotary Friendship Exchange for District 7890, Spring 2009 – Spring 2010

eClub works for me because...
the flexibility fits my schedule

Education and Occupation

Level of traditional education:
Doctorate/Emeritus

Where did you attend High School?
South Brunswick High School in Monmouth Junction, New Jersey

Where did you attend college?
Undergraduate--Rutgers University; Graduate-- Rutgers University (M.L.S. Library Science), University of South Alabama (M.A. Sociology), University of Pennsylvania (M.A. Demography, Ph.D. Sociology)

I use my degree in my current occupation:
True

What is your current occupation?
Library Director of Naugatuck Valley Community College; Adjunct online professor (Sociology)

How long have been at your current occupation?
15 years

Written Profile

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The first part of my life was spent in Kendall Park, New Jersey, USA (between Princeton and New Brunswick in the center of the state). My three brothers and I all went to Rutgers University-the free tuition, courtesy of my Dad being a Professor of Social Work there, was a definite financial plus. Having worked in a public library in high school I decided to attend the Library School at Rutgers right after graduation. A year and a half later I received my Masters Degree (M.A.) and found a job as a reference librarian in Mobile, Alabama at Spring Hill College. It was quite an adventure having my first full-time job and living on my own in a new part of the country. Soon after starting the job I realized that to get ahead in academic librarianship one should have a second, subject-specific M.A. This started a two year process of getting an M.A. degree in sociology at the University of South Alabama in the evenings while working full-time in the day. My experience studying and working at the same time has given me an appreciation of what many of my students are going through-I know what it's like to have no social life :-) Around the time that I was finishing my degree I had my first 'mid-life' crisis-I was 25 years old so maybe it was a 'quarter-life' crisis. Wanting to have more of an impact on students' lives I decided to leave librarianship to pursue a Ph.D. in sociology--my college major-and teach in a university. I went to the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia, supporting myself by being an adjunct instructor at St. Joseph's College and working as a research assistant. Five years later I left Philly with a Ph.D. and a wife-we met while Israeli folk dancing-to begin a tenure-track position in the Department of Sociology and Anthropology at Fordham University in New York. During my five years at Fordham we lived in Hackensack, New Jersey and my wife and I started our family-we have two teenagers. This was the beginning of my sense of being pulled apart. As a faculty member I was expected to do course preparation, research, and grading at night and on weekends. However, when the kids were infants and toddlers I wanted to spend that time with them and in helping out my wife with all of the chores associated with having young kids. Enter my second 'mid-life' crisis. I realized how much I missed the Monday to Friday, nine to five world of librarianship, especially being able to leave the job behind at the end of the day. So I returned to academic libraries, getting a job as a reference librarian at Seton Hall University in South Orange, New Jersey. After a couple of years I decided to go into library administration and was offered a job as Library Director at Albertus Magnus College in New Haven, Connecticut. Seven years later I became the Director of Library Services at Naugatuck Valley Community College in Connecticut, my current position. For those of you counting, I have worked at five Catholic institutions of higher education-three Jesuit (Spring Hill, St. Joe's, and Fordham), one Diocesan (Seton Hall) and one Dominican (Albertus Magnus). Not bad for a 'nice Jewish boy'-my guardian angel must be Catholic :-) For the past four years I have taught numerous sociology distance education courses. I greatly prefer the flexibility of this educational delivery system over traditional classroom teaching. It is a way for me to stay connected with the discipline of sociology and have time for the family and a job at the same time. Most of my free time is devoted to spending time with my wife and two children. We had an adventure in 2001 when I exchanged jobs for four weeks during the summer with an academic library director in Chelmsford, England (in Essex County). Our families switched homes and cars during this time and we were able to experience the country somewhat as residents rather than solely as tourists. While I worked the family did sightseeing around town and in London and on the weekends we were able to go on day trips. Truly a memorable experience.