Brown-Tougaloo Partnership
Date March 3, 2026
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Brown Welcomes Tougaloo College for Fall Partnership Meeting

Brown University welcomed Tougaloo College partners in December to celebrate six decades of the Brown-Tougaloo Partnership, featuring program highlights, campus tours, and the launch of The Leadership Alliance book.

In early December, members of the Brown University community welcomed partners from Tougaloo College to campus, honoring the pioneering Brown-Tougaloo Partnership, which has flourished for more than six decades since its beginnings during the Civil Rights era.

The visit brought together Brown-Tougaloo students and nearly a dozen community members from Tougaloo, a historically Black college in Mississippi, for a series of conversations and activities. Participants explored the future of the partnership through dialogue with campus partners, toured the new Galen V. Henderson Admission Welcome Center and the Department of Africana Studies, and visited a newly added Tougaloo College display at the Brown Bookstore.

Highlights of the convening included discussions of the 50-year legacy of the Early Identification Program at Brown’s Warren Alpert Medical School, which provides Tougaloo pre-med students with a pathway to early admission. Attendees also celebrated the release of a new book about The Leadership Alliance, a national consortium founded at Brown in 1992 that supports students from diverse backgrounds in professional research careers, including Tougaloo students. 

“It was a powerful experience for participants to reflect on this iconic, one-of-a-kind partnership and the impact it has made on our two institutions,” said Juana Parillon, assistant vice president of campus and community engagement and director of the Brown-Tougaloo Partnership. 

Photos below by Nick Dentamaro.

A woman is shown gesturing in front of the group of Tougaloo and Brown partners during a meeting
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Marta Collier-Youngblood, Director of Sponsored Programs and Research & Special Assistant to the Vice President for Strategic Initiatives and Social Justice at Tougaloo College, supported a discussion on the mission and impact of the Brown-Tougaloo Partnership.

A group of Brown University and Tougaloo students, faculty, and staff are shown engaged in smaller group discussion
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Students, faculty, and staff from Brown University and Tougaloo College engaged in conversation about the future of the partnership.

A woman holds a red mug in front of a display case
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Leadership from Tougaloo College explored the merchandise display case at the Brown University Bookstore.

Group of faculty and staff from Tougaloo College and Brown University posing in front of a staircase in Churchill House
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Members of the Brown-Tougaloo Partnership posed for a group photo during the tour of the Department of Africana Studies/Rites and Reason Theatre in Churchill House.