Aaron Brower

Aaron Brower (born January 9, 1958) is University of Wisconsin System senior associate vice president of academic affairs and executive director for University of Wisconsin Extended Campus (formerly University of Wisconsin-Extension, Continuing Education, Outreach & E-Learning). His primary responsibility is to develop and expand educational opportunities for adult and professionally oriented students in Wisconsin and across the U.S. Extended Campus has a national reputation for creating award-winning innovative and student-centric programs that partner with and leverage resources across all 13 University of Wisconsin campuses.

Brower received his B.A. in psychology from the University of Michigan in 1980, and by 1985 had received his M.S.W., M.A. in psychology, and Ph.D. in social work and psychology from the University of Michigan.

UW Extended Campus runs the UW Flexible Option, the Collaborative Degrees, UW Independent Learning, and the University Learning Store.

University of Wisconsin Colleges and University of Wisconsin-Extension

Brower previously served as provost and vice chancellor at the University of Wisconsin-Extension. He also served as interim chancellor at the University of Wisconsin Colleges and University of Wisconsin-Extension through 2014, as interim provost and vice chancellor at the University of Wisconsin-Extension, and as special assistant to UW System President Kevin P. Reilly for new educational strategies from August 2012 through 2013. Brower was one of the creators of the UW Flexible Option Program, the a competency-based educational model.

University of Wisconsin-Madison

Prior to UW-Extension, Brower served as vice provost for teaching and learning at University of Wisconsin–Madison, and he continues there as a professor in the School of Social Work, Integrated Liberal Studies, and Educational Leadership and Policy Analysis.

Publications and work

Brower's early work focused on small group and social cognition, producing four books, including Social Cognition and Individual Change[1] and What's Social about Social Cognition? (ISBN 0-8039-7205-9), both by Sage Publications. His work evolved to study group and community processes related to college life as experienced by students from diverse backgrounds, student drinking, and college student success. He helped create many of the residential and nonresidential learning communities at UW–Madison and across the U.S., including first-year student transition programs, summer "bridge" and orientation programs, undergraduate research scholars programs, and living-learning programs. Along with his colleague, Karen K. Inkelas, he has created a national survey and study of living-learning programs.

References

1. Social Cognition and Individual Change: (SAGE, 1993, ISBN 0-8039-3884-5)- Retrieved 2019-02-03