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Po$4 S, The Carolina Indian Voice
Thursdoy, August 12, 1976
Growth Of PSU Amazes SchooVs First Acting President
By Gfne Warren
PEMBROKE—The man who was
the first actinfl president of what was
then PembrAe State Cidlege for
Indians in tin 1941-42 academic year
couldn't believe his eyes.
“This campus has exploded,” he
exulted, touring Pembroke State
University on a recoit visit. “Uve
never seen such amazing growth.”
Oi'. Owens H. Browne, age 76, who
has retired in Raleigh, then reflected
on the way it was.
“In 1941-42, our total student body
,at Pemtooke numbered only 96. It
was then strictly an Indian school.”
(Note: Today the enrollment of PSU
is 2,000 and tiie university is open to
aO races).
He said tiiat 1941-42 was the first
^r it was decided that only college
flasBfs should be held on campus,
lie iM«vipus year, he said there were
approximately 314 students on
campus, but about 260 of them were
high school students.
“In those days both high school and
college studoits went to classes in Old
Main.. Most of the college classes
were held upstairs,” he said. The
next year when the high school
students Idft, he said cdlege officials
had to go out and “beat the bushes” to
obtain a large «ough student body to
justify tiM school’s existence.
AmHig ~ibe high echoed students
(hen was a young Lumbee Indian
named F.ngUnh E. Jones. He is now
Dr. English E. Jones, the university
chancellor and the man under whom
PembnAe State Univoaity has made
Its fantastic prepress.
Helping Dr. Browne to recruit
eellege students in those lean days
was a member of the faculty, Ira Pate
Lowry erf Pembroke. “Ira Pate and I
went around to the different high
schools and encouraged their
graduates to come here. In fact, we
bad a Senior Day on campus,” said
Dr. Browne.
From what Dr. Browne related,
those were challenging days.
“In order for our students to have
meals on campus, we set up a
cooperative program with Albert
Hunt (then a sophmore)
as a business manager. Students,
most of whom lived on farms around
here, would bring in all kinds of food
for which we credited wi their meal
account. Students who couldn’t
provide any food would be put to work
doing other things to earn their
meals. (Hunt, now assistant
superintendent of Robeson Clounty
Schools, said, however, “we ate
‘good’.”)
“As for facilities. Old Main was
about all we had,” Said Dr. Browne.
‘ ‘The old gymnasium was built while 1
was here. We had small men’s and
women’s dormitories plus small
building* for home ecixiomics and
agriculture.”
The year before Dr. Browne
became acting superintendent he said
the first college bachelor degree was
presented. “The summer after I
became superintendoit, we awarded ^
sev».” In those days Dr. Browne bad t
to ccmsult James Hillman, state
superintendent of public instnictira -
on all major decisions pertaining to ‘‘
the college.
Pembroke State University’s
present staff numbers 123, but in Dr.
Browne’s days the total staff was
four. “Clifton Oxendine was the dean,
James Arnold Jacobs was the
r^istrar and my secretary was Miss
Fossie Maynor, who now lives in
CHalifomia and still corresponds with
me. Those were the days before the
school had a dean of wom&i. All the
girls had to go and talk to Mr.
Oxendine about their problems. My
office was in a small room on the right
of Old Main as you entered,” said Dr.
Browne. “The total faculty numbered
12orl4.” (Note: Today it is 117).
“Where you now have high-rise
buildings, we had woods,” said Dr.
Browne.
He chuckled when the new Per
forming Arts Center was mentimied
with its sophisticated lighting system.
“Ira Pate Lowry (our music
professor) staged an ^>eratta cal^
‘The Golden Trail’ when I was here.
Because I was a chemistry professor,
he asked me to help him with some
makeshift lighting in Old Main
auditorium,” Said Dr. Browne, who
proved a magician at making
something out of nothing.
Lowry, also retired after serving for
years as head of the music
Department of PSU, had Dr. and Mrs.
Browne as overnight house guests
during their visit here. He and Mrs.
Lowry took them to see the new In
dian Drama, “Strike at the Wind. ”
Mrs. Lowry, who has been extremely
ill, was seeing the drama for the
second time. She has used a folding
chair to watch the performances.
Another Pembrrfce man whom Dr.
Brown praised was D. F. Lowry. “A
marvelous man,” said the former
Chancellor ENGLISH E. JONES [left]
of Pembroke State University greets Dr.
Owens H. Browne, first acting presi
dent of the instltotloD In the 1941-42
academic year, and Mrs. Browne. Now
retired in Raleigh, Dr. Browne headed
ihe school when It was called Pem
broke State College for Indians and had
an enrollment of 96.
I
BEEHIVE
ImprovemeiM
HOMES
new
homes
m FOR A QUEEN"
^ HMsprifigaOfHea
W ReOell CoiijBi
w M3-5601
Hope Mills Oiiic
Alton King
*24-1670
■- PAID POtmCAL ADVERTISEMENT
HELP ELECT
Laymon Poe
Locklear
To The
Kobeson County
Doord of Education
Let's Pur The-Children'First *
PSU acting president. “Fuller
carried the mail and farmed~he had
the best com I’ve ever seen-and
pastored at the Methodist Church.
Once in a while when he had to be out
of town, he asked me to take charge of
the worship service. Ira Pate
arranged the music, so it was no
problem.”
Dr. Browne started teaching
science here in ‘37, became acting
superintendent in the 1940-41 school
year and then was appointed acting
president in the 1941-42 academic
year.
The next year Dr. Ralph D. Wellons
assumed the presidency. Dr. Browne
went to Lenoir Rhyne College where
he initially taught physics and
chemistry and continued as a science
professor for eight years. He went
next to St. Mary’s College in Raleigh
where he tau^t chemistry for 18
years before retiring.
Although a native of Illinois, Dr.
Browne calls Raleigh home. His wife,
the former Mary Martin Johnson, 75,
is a Raleigh native.
“I have a daughter living in
Florida, and we try to stop by
Pembroke whenever we go down
there. This is our second visit this
year, but there was a five-year gap
before that.
“No, when I was a teacher and
administrator here with three
children, I never dreamed that some
day this school would grow to sudi
proportions. There has simply been
an explosion here!”
RE-ELECT
SIM OXENDINE
TO THE
Robeson County
Board of Education
August 17, 1976
^Experienced •Qualified
►Dedicated
PAiD POUnCAL ADVESTBEMKNT
The
Kids That
Count**
For Continued Public School Improvement:
Re-Elect Craig Phillips
State Superintendent of Public Instruction
EXPERIENCED — QUALIFIED — PROVEN
26 Years As A Teacher — Coach — Asst. Principal — Principal
Asst. Superintendent — Superintendent — State Superintendent
^Tt*sThe
Kids That
Count**
PAID FOR DY PEMBROKE SUPPORTERS OF CRAIG PHILLIPS
—-rrijifrrrrrrrrrrrrr ^