Tony Brown, professor of the practice of public policy and sociology, will become president of the Robertson Scholars Program July 1, 2007.

"The challenge of connecting two great universities and two great programs is very exciting," Brown said. "It is amazing what the program has accomplished in five years. They've gone from nothing to something really strong. The question is how we can make it even better as we move forward."

Brown will be replacing Eric Mlyn, who is currently executive director of the program. During his three-year appointment, Brown will be retaining his faculty status in the Sanford Institute for Public Policy, but will teach primarily within the Robertson program.

The Robertson Scholars Program, founded in 2000, is a merit scholarship program that brings together students from Duke and the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

Brown has worked closely with the program for several years. He has served as a faculty partner, leader of first-year colloquium and most recently, faculty advisor.

"Tony Brown has served our program successfully in a variety of of roles already and I believe that he will continue to serve our program well in his new capacity," said freshman Robertson scholar Anthony Marzocca. "He has a great wealth of experience to share with us and his focus on ethics will serve the program's aims well."

Brown is currently an active faculty member within the Hart Leadership Program and created the Enterprising Leadership Initiative, which has helped students start a number of self-sustaining organizations, such as the Center for Race Relations, Common Ground and Rival Magazine.

"Tony had a chance to do what he loved with the Hart Leadership Program-to be with students. The natural next step is for him to develop and realize a vision that is larger now," said Alma Blount, director of the Hart Leadership Program. "He's going to be doing some teaching, but more importantly, he's going to be able to dream very big. It is his own ambition to take ideas to a whole new level."

The Robertson program's unique relationship with the two universities and the scholars and resources it attracts, contribute to a promising future for the program that Mlyn helped found, Brown said.

"Dr. Mlyn was an incredible leader. He took a program that was expected to fail because of the school rivalry and brought it to the level of one of the nation's best scholarship programs," said junior Robertson scholar Andy Cunningham.

Brown's new appointment was met with bittersweet sentiment among his colleagues at the Sanford Institute.

"I am thrilled for Tony because he is so fired up about this. He sees lots of possibilities," Blount said. "It's a huge loss for me and the Hart Leadership Program, but the predominant emotion is my happiness for him."

Robertson scholars said they were eagerly anticipating Brown's leadership of the program.

"I look forward to having Tony Brown as our new director." said freshman Robertson scholar Winn Seay. "He has been renowned for accomplishing progressive change in the community and he will be be effective in helping our program to grow in the future."