Ellen Brown

A $1 million pledge to the Pardee RAND Graduate School will expand opportunities to students in need and recruit more talent into public policy research.

Ellen Brown's daughter Zoe Merewether and sister Deborah Brown with Ellen Brown (kneeling), the late Harold Brown, and Ellen's son Gene Merewether, photo courtesy of Ellen Brown

Ellen Brown's daughter Zoe Merewether and sister Deborah Brown with Ellen Brown (kneeling), the late Harold Brown, and Ellen's son Gene Merewether

Photo courtesy of Ellen Brown

Ellen Brown wants more people, in more fields, to learn the “RAND approach” to policy research. Her family's recent gift of $1 million to the Pardee RAND Graduate School to make that happen continues a legacy of giving that reaches back nearly 40 years.

She grew up hearing about RAND from her late father, Harold Brown. He was a former U.S. Secretary of Defense and Secretary of the Air Force who served on the RAND Board of Trustees for more than 35 years. She thought of RAND back then as mostly an Air Force think tank focused on national security.

“But it's so much more,” she said. “That's what is so unique about RAND. It brings this data-driven science approach to social issues, too. We need people who are trained in data-driven analysis in all areas of public life—in education, in public health, certainly in national security. We wanted to expand opportunities so that more people can get involved.”

She knows firsthand how important that data-driven approach is. She's a scientist herself, with a Ph.D. in physical oceanography from the MIT/Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution. She spent most of her career working as a senior scientist and program manager at Science Applications International Corporation. “My life,” she joked, “has also been data-driven.”

She and her sister, Deborah, manage the Harold and Colene Brown Family Foundation. Through it, they have given $500,000 to Pardee RAND since 2019. Those gifts helped the school rethink and redesign how it trains future public policy researchers. The Brown family especially supported the school's effort to connect students with outside communities to work on the issues that matter most to them and their residents.

We need people who are trained in data-driven analysis in all areas of public life—in education, in public health, certainly in national security. We wanted to expand opportunities so that more people can get involved.

Ellen Brown

The family's recent $1 million pledge will continue to support activities that sustain, enrich, and engage communities inside and outside of the graduate school. It comes as Pardee RAND continues to expand opportunities to get more people into public policy research. The school recently opened a campus at RAND's office near Washington, D.C., and launched a Master of National Security Policy program.

The gift continues a family history of giving that Harold Brown started in 1985. The family created the Harold and Colene Brown Endowed Faculty Chair in 1999 to support exceptional Pardee RAND faculty. It added a $1.5 million gift to the Pardee RAND Dean's Fund in 2015. A few years ago, Ellen and Deborah Brown also fulfilled an estate gift to Pardee RAND in the name of their family's foundation.

“Our focus is predominantly on education and expanding opportunities to people who wouldn't otherwise have the financial wherewithal to get involved in the kinds of things that RAND is interested in,” Ellen Brown said. “That's really our goal, to continue supporting the graduate program and opening up opportunities to people.”

She recently joined the school's Board of Governors. The seat has given her an up-close look at some of RAND's most impactful research. She noted especially a series of reports RAND has done looking at how to address the crisis of homelessness in Los Angeles. Her position on the board also gives her an opportunity to meet students and graduates and hear how they're using what they learned at Pardee RAND. She recently met a new graduate working to get school children excited about math through Caltech, an institution her family also supports.

“It's always gratifying for me to see these former students working in fields that I wouldn't have expected,” she said. “It really shows the far-reaching effects of the RAND approach.”

“I'm certain that we will continue to support Pardee RAND into the future,” she added. “And when my sister and I are no longer involved, my children can continue to be involved in giving to RAND and Pardee RAND.”

September 4, 2024