Elmer Ross Browning

Image source: Elmer R. Browning

Hired in 1936 as an instructor of commerce, Elmer R. Browning guided the growth of business education at East Carolina over the course of the next three decades. By 1967, business had evolved into one of the ECU’s premier academic programs. With Browning as its founding dean, the newly accredited School of Business offered, in addition to undergraduate degrees, the Master’s of Business Administration (MBA) degree. As such, the ECU School of Business rivaled the one at UNC and stood among the most important in the southeast. Shortly after realizing these crowning achievements, Browning left ECU for his alma mater, Marshall University, to continue his work in advancing business education. Browning’s contributions to the explosive growth of East Carolina’s program in business education were monumental, empowering the university as a progressive force in the economic and entrepreneurial advancement of the state and region.

A native of Logan, West Virginia, Browning completed his bachelor’s degree at Marshall University. It was there that Browning met his wife, also a native of West Virginia. The Brownings next earned master’s degrees at Duke University. The husband and wife team joined the faculty at ECU in 1936, with Dr. Browning hired to teach commerce and his wife, English.

At that time, the program in commerce was located in retooled storage rooms in the attic of Old Austin, with workbenches from the manual arts shop serving as accounting tables. By 1942, however, commerce had grown into one of the largest programs on campus. In recognition of his contributions to the curriculum, the 1942 Tecoan was dedicated to him. The same year, Browning completed his doctorate at Colorado State College of Education. WWII, however, interrupted his tenure at ECU: in service to his country, Browning worked for the War Department from 1944-1946 as a professor at Shrivenham American University in England, and then at Biarritz American University in France.

Following WWII, Browning oversaw phenomenal growth in business education at ECTC, mostly resulting from an influx of male students studying on the GI Bill. By 1961, the Business Department had grown into the ECC School of Business, with Browning as its founding dean. During his tenure as dean, the School of Business was located in the newly constructed Rawl Building. In 1962, Browning’s contributions to business education were recognized by members of four student organizations – Delta Sigma Pi, the professional business fraternity; Pi Omega Pi, national honorary business fraternity; the Future Business Leaders of America; and the Society for the Advancement of Management – and Browning honored with the naming of the first-floor lounge of the Rawl Building, the E. R. Browning Room. A portrait of Browning by a local artist was donated to the school for display in the room. The same year, Browning was recognized in the Buccaneer as one of eleven distinguished faculty at ECC.

Browning’s crowning achievement, however, was realized in 1966 with the North Carolina Board of Higher Education’s approval of a MBA degree program at ECC, followed by, in 1967, national accreditation for the School of Business. That year, the school had 1,700 students and a faculty of 43 full-time instructors, making it one of the largest in the South. In addition to a two-year accounting certificate, a two-year secretarial certificate, a Bachelor of Science degree in business and economics, a Bachelor of Arts degree in business education and economics, and a Master of Arts degree in business and economics, the School of Business added, in 1965, instruction in punch card programing for the 1620 IBM computer, advancing business education into the information age.

As dean, Browning was followed by Dr. James H. Bearden who continued Browning’s work in developing the business curriculum and thereby contributing to the economic transformation of the region.

Sources

• “Bearden Succeeds Browning For Business Head.” East Carolinian. Vol. 43, no. 60. July 4, 1968. P. 1. https://digital.lib.ecu.edu/39355
• Browning Announces Resignation; Accepts Marshall Faculty Post.” East Carolinian. Vol. 43, no. 58. June 19, 1968. P. 4. https://digital.lib.ecu.edu/39353
• “Browning Listed in Who’s Who.” Rocky Mount Telegram. August 20, 1961. P. 12.
• “Buccaneer Faculty Citings.” Buccaneer. 1962. P. 30. https://digital.lib.ecu.edu/15313
• “Dedication.” Tecoan. 1942. Pp. 6-7. https://digital.lib.ecu.edu/15347
• “Dean Browning Honored At EC.” Rocky Mount Telegram. October 31, 1962. P. 3.
• “Dr. Bearden Assumes Newly Created Position.” East Carolinian. Vol. 43, no. 10. October 12, 1967. P. 1. https://digital.lib.ecu.edu/39306
• “ECU Business Dean Resigning To Accept Post At Marshall.” Rocky Mount Telegram. June 14, 19678. P. 7.
• “Elmer Ross Browning's scientific contributions.” Research Gate. https://www.researchgate.net/scientific-contributions/2031766590_Elmer_Ross_Browning/amp
• “Fourteen New Members Added to ECTC Faculty.” Teco Echo. Vol. 21, no. 1. October 20, 1945. P. 1. https://digital.lib.ecu.edu/38106
• Howard, Henry. “ECU School of Business Means Business.” Rocky Mount Telegram. January 29, 1969. P. 21.
• “School of Business, 1960-1965.” Records of Leo W. Jenkins' Tenure. UA02-06, Box 47, Files 02.06.14.15-19. University Archives, East Carolina University, Greenville, NC. https://digital.lib.ecu.edu/special/ead/findingaids/UA02-06#about
• “School of Business Expands Program.” Buccaneer. 1965. Pp. 156-157.
• “Soldiers As Students.” Asheville Citizen Times. December 19, 1945. P. 4.
• “Two New Faculty Members Serving: Miss Maude T. Adams and E. R. Browning Added to Commerce Course.” Teco Echo. Vol. 12, no. 6. January 28, 1936. P. 1. https://digital.lib.ecu.edu/38035

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