Brown Alumni & Friends

09/03/2026

With a $37 million investment from the Starr Foundation, which is chaired by alumnus Jeffrey W. Greenberg ’73, Brown University and Brown University Health will launch a new partnership to accelerate breakthroughs in aging research, clinical trials, and patient treatments.

By integrating University research with the health system’s clinical trial network, the Starr Healthspan Innovation Alliance aims to bridge the gap between scientific discovery and life-changing treatments for major age-related diseases of the modern era.

“Brown University’s innovative scientists and the exceptional clinicians at Brown University Health are uniquely positioned to translate groundbreaking research into effective treatments for patients,” said Greenberg. “The Starr Foundation is proud to support this transformative alliance, with combined expertise that will accelerate breakthroughs for aging-related diseases to improve the human health span.”

Read more: https://bit.ly/4gJ0DKz

09/01/2026

First-year students arrive on College Hill tomorrow! If one thing hasn’t changed over the decades, it’s the excitement of move-in day. Meeting your roommate for the first time, saying goodbye to your family, finding your way around. What do you remember most from your first days on campus?

08/28/2026

08/27/2026

T-minus 12 days until the Van Wickle Gates open! The newest Brunonians—the Class of 2030—will walk through the gates on September 8 during the 263rd Opening Convocation, officially beginning their Brown journey with this time-honored tradition. 🐻📚

08/25/2026

Have you checked out the Lessons in Leadership series from Brown University School of Professional Studies? It’s a conversational webinar series that dives into leadership topics to help you build new skills and spark ideas. Here are some of the upcoming lessons in September:

Sept 2: Effective Communication | Alumni Insights—What Changes After the Course

Sept 3: The Leader as Coach | The Myths of Leadership: Rethinking What Effective Leaders Actually Do

Sept 25: Effective Communication | Command the Zoom: Communicating with Confidence in Virtual Settings

Ready to join the conversation? Learn more and register for free: https://bit.ly/4itq1GN

A conversational webinar series bringing together members from the Brown community to discuss various perspectives on timely leadership topics.

08/20/2026

Every summer, Brown clubs get together to welcome incoming first-year students and their families to the Brown community. These events are a chance for new Brunonians to meet each other, talk to alums about their Brown experiences, and get advice for their move to College Hill.

Over the last couple of weeks, summer send-offs have been hosted by Brown Clubs all over the world, from New Jersey to Switzerland to East Africa to Japan. And there are still more to come! Check the events calendar to see if your local club has one coming up in August: https://bit.ly/2WQsiVe

📷 Images from Rocky Mountain Brown Club & Brown Club of DC

08/17/2026

Go Brown Bears! Congrats to the women’s crew team and Head Coach Tessa Gobbo ’13 for winning the Island Challenge Cup at the Henley Royal Regatta in England! 🐻🏆

08/14/2026

Brown alumni and parents in San Francisco came together for a Brown+Beyond event, “Transcending Boundaries: AI + Science.”

Kicked off by Aliisa Rosenthal ’05, the event was centered on a conversation between two AI leaders at Brown: Michael Littman PhD’96, P’21 and Brenda Rubenstein ’07.

Littman is a University Professor of Computer Science and Brown’s inaugural Associate Provost for Artificial Intelligence. Rubenstein is the Director of the Data Science Institute, Professor of Physics, and Vernon K. Krieble Professor of Chemistry.

See what they shared about Brown’s unique approach to exploring AI’s impact on research: https://bit.ly/4g8Eaqi

08/11/2026

Sofia Barnett '25 is now a staff reporter at the Minnesota Star Tribune. In the first year of her journalism career, she covered breaking news, public safety, and immigration in Minneapolis—and even contributed to Pulitzer Prize-winning coverage.

“My time in Brown University History Department continues to shape the way I report. Studying history taught me to think critically about evidence, question conventional narratives, and understand how individual lives intersect with larger political and social forces.”

Read more of what Barnett shared about her first year on the ground: https://bit.ly/4xxIZQY

08/06/2026

Did you know that Rhode Island Hall was once home to a museum of natural history? The Jenks Museum was founded in 1871 by John Whipple Potter Jenks, an alum of the Class of 1838. In its heyday, it housed more than 50,000 specimens, serving as a teaching collection and hands-on laboratory for the study of natural sciences and the emerging field of biology.

Jenks was a colorful character. He held taxidermy classes in the basement, and eventually met his demise on the very steps of the building in 1894.

In 2014, a group called The Jenks Society for Lost Museums, led by Professor Steven Lubar, a former curator for the Smithsonian’s National Museum of American History, tracked down some of the museum’s objects (including taxidermied specimens that were hidden inside the walls of Rhode Island Hall) and creatively reimagined the museum as an installation in partnership with artist Mark Dion.

Today, a few of the objects remain stored at Brown’s Joukowsky Institute and a painting of Jenks still hangs in the reception area of the hall.