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Houston mayor returns 'home'

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By Tom Uribes

Houston Mayor Lee P. Brown, an alumnus of Fresno State, returned to the campus to deliver the keynote address at the 22nd Annual Business Associates Luncheon sponsored by the Fresno State Craig School of Business.

The Business Associates, a support group for the Craig School, consists of 105 Valley businesspeople and other friends of the school.  They help promote educational and economic progress for Central California. The group's annual luncheons feature alumni who have made great strides with their careers.

Brown told the audience that Houston has a "can-do" attitude and faces challenges with a sense of optimism. He told of improving roads, modernizing Houston's airport and creating the city's first light-rail project.

Brown, who grew up in Fowler, graduated from Fresno State in 1960 with a degree in criminology. He played football on a scholarship for the Bulldogs. He was named the university's Distinguished Alumnus in 1983.

Brown was joined in the nation's fourth-largest city this year by another Fresno State football player, David Carr, the national Football League's first-round draft pick for 2002 by the new Houston Texans franchise.

In September, when the Bulldogs traveled to Houston for the football game against Rice, Mayor Brown hosted the Red Wave boosters from his alma mater and university officials at City Hall. They were joined by several Texas alumni residing in the area.

Brown was elected mayor of Houston in December 1997 and was re-elected in 1999 and again in 2001 for his third and final term, capping a career of public service dedicated to law enforcement.

Brown rose through the law enforcement ranks in the next three decades after college ­ first as a patrolman in San Jose; then as a sheriff in Multnomah, Oregon, followed by Commissioner of Public Safety in Atlanta, GA, Chief of Police in Houston and Commissioner of Police in New York City.

During this time, Brown conceived a concept known today as Neighborhood Oriented Policing, which more than 60 percent of all police departments nationwide have adopted in one form or another.

Upon taking office, Mayor Brown outlined five guiding principles that have subsequently shaped his leadership of the fourth largest city in the United States: neighborhood-oriented government, opportunities for youth, transportation and infrastructure, economic development and international trade, and continuous management improvement.

Prior to his election as mayor, Brown served in President Bill Clinton's Cabinet as director of the Office of National Drug Control Policy from 1993 to 1996.

In addition to his Fresno State degree, he has a master's degree in sociology from San Jose State and holds both a master's degree and a doctorate degree in criminology from the University of California at Berkeley, where he was recently named a UC-Berkeley Fellow.

Back to University Journal, 12/02 Issue