Dean Brown appointed by governor to scholarship award committee

Dr. Patricia Johnson Brown, Senior Associate Dean of the School of Continuing Studies, has been appointed by Governor Kaine to the Commonwealth's Brown v. Board of Education Scholarship Awards Committee for an additional two-year term.

About the Scholarship Fund

The Brown v. Board of Education Scholarship Program and Fund is one of several initiatives resulting from the Commonwealth's two-year long commemoration of the 50th anniversary of Brown v. Board of Education. The Program was created by the 2004 Virginia General Assembly to assist persons who were enrolled or eligible to enroll in the public schools of Virginia during Massive Resistance between 1954 and 1964, in jurisdictions in which the public schools were closed to avoid desegregation.

About Brown v. Board of Education

On May 17, 1954, in the landmark court case of Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka, Kansas, the United States Supreme Court ruled unanimously that the doctrine of "separate but equal"—the legal separation of the races—was unconstitutional. Public schools throughout the nation were ordered to desegregate; however, Virginia resisted the court’s decision. The resistance lasted 10 years. During this time, public schools were closed in Charlottesville, Norfolk, Prince Edward County, and Warren County for various periods of time. Thousands of African American students and hundreds of white students were denied education and could not graduate.

Learn more about the Brown v. Board of Education Scholarship Fund and Program from the Virginia Department of Legislative Services Website. Students pursuing a degree from the School of Continuing Studies may be eligible to apply for this scholarship.

Posted August 24, 2009