Statements and Letters

AAC&U Remembers and Honors Myles Brand

September 17, 2009

The entire AAC&U community mourns the passing of a great educational leader, Myles Brand. We have lost a champion of educational quality and a leader of unparalleled integrity and effectiveness. While many others will surely remember and applaud Brand’s accomplishments in leading the NCAA, AAC&U is particularly grateful to Brand for his long history of leadership in higher education, including his tenures as a philosophy professor, and his presidencies at the University of Oregon and Indiana University. In all these leadership roles, including at the NCAA, Brand always focused on students and the importance of their learning and growth as an outcome of their college careers—including their participation in athletics, academics, and other extra-curricular activities.

Brand was the first national leader to join the National Leadership Council of AAC&U’s national initiative, Liberal Education and America’s Promise: Excellence for Everyone as a Nation Goes to College. In that role, he helped work to break the national silence on liberal education and its value to all students. Brand exemplified what “excellence” means for educators, leaders, and citizens. He was steadfast in his commitment to liberal education and understood well the importance of providing its advantages to all students—athletes and non-athletes alike. While he will be sorely missed, his legacy will surely live on in the accomplishments and educational achievements of scholar athletes for years to come.

As AAC&U President Carol Schneider put it, “Myles never shied away from the tough challenges and exemplified true leadership. He brought all his experiences and his education as a philosopher to bear on his work as a college president and as head of the NCAA. I am deeply grateful for his leadership and commitment to liberal education and to academic integrity.”

Brand died at the age of 67 after a battle with pancreatic cancer. Our deepest sympathies go out to his family and all his colleagues and friends at the NCAA, in Indiana and Oregon, and across higher education.