Michael F. Brown Reflects on Ten Years as President of SAR

Michael F. Brown served as SAR’s president from 2014 to 2024 after shifting to emeritus status at Williams College, on whose faculty he had long served. Dr. Brown, a cultural anthropologist familiar with SAR from his participation in two advanced seminars and a term as resident scholar, published extensively on new religious movements, the Indigenous peoples of South America, and global efforts to protect Indigenous cultural property from misuse. Under his leadership, SAR significantly expanded its public programming to include non-credit adult education classes and lectures that went beyond anthropology and archaeology to encompass social issues of broad public concern. Another key event of Brown’s term as president was Grounded in Clay, an Indigenously curated exhibition of Pueblo pottery that toured nationally. The COVID-19 pandemic of 2020-2021 led SAR to expand greatly its online presence, thus taking its programming to a broader national and international audience.

Video by 12FPS: https://12fps.com/
Images courtesy of SAR, Garret P. Vreeland, and The Met. Credit: Paula Lobo.

SCHOOL FOR ADVANCED RESEARCH
Established in 1907, the School for Advanced Research (SAR) advances creative thought and innovative work in the social sciences, humanities, and Native American arts. SAR is home to the Indian Arts Research Center (IARC), a leader in community-advised and collaborative Indigenous arts engagement and collections management. Through scholar residency, seminar, and artist fellowship programs, SAR Press publications, and a range of public programs, SAR facilitates intellectual inquiry and human understanding. SAR’s historic sixteen-acre campus sits on the ancestral lands of the Tewa people in O’gah’poh geh Owingeh or Santa Fe, New Mexico. SAR is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit educational institution.

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