Mentor, student, teacher, friend
In 2017, Dawn Williams Brown ’87 was at a crossroads in her life. Having recently lost both of her parents, she came to the realization that her day-to-day life was not quite what she envisioned. She wanted more.
“I wanted to do something meaningful,” she said. She knew her alma mater had to be involved, but she didn’t think it would be possible living in Virginia.
Then, she received a phone call from Vince Lewis, associate vice president for entrepreneurial initiatives. He offered her an opportunity to become a remote mentor in his capstone class, Business Management 430.
“I developed a relationship with the students, and becoming a mentor was the most wonderful feeling,” she said. “What they gave me and what I gave them was amazing.”
“I developed a relationship with the students, and becoming a mentor was the most wonderful feeling. What they gave me and what I gave them was amazing.”
What Brown, an accounting major at UD, really was able to share with the business students was her expertise, from working in Quickbooks to managing clients in a foreign country. Brown worked in the corporate world for more than a decade before starting her own consulting firm in 2006.
“I help analyze information, creating processes with clients, and I love doing it,” she said. Soon, in addition to remote mentoring, she was commuting to Dayton several times a semester to meet with students to see presentations and pitches.
But when COVID hit, she saw an opportunity to go one step further. She enrolled in the online MBA program at UD so she could start teaching. And she did — as an adjunct professor in accounting in January 2022.
“The students really motivated me to teach,” she said. “I’m with people who are hiring them on a daily basis, so if I can help them be a better candidate for those jobs, I want to do it.”
Brown keeps in touch with many of her students, even her first mentor cohort from 2019 and 2020. She said a text, a phone call or email from a past student is just the cherry on top.