After decades at the helm of U.S. military strategy, Gen. Charles Q. Brown Jr., the recently retired chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, is navigating a new flight path—this time through the corridors of academia.
Duke University announced Tuesday that Brown, the nation’s first Air Force officer to lead the Joint Chiefs since 2005 and only the second Black man to ever hold the position, will serve as executive-in-residence for a two-year term. His appointment will bridge the university’s Sanford School of Public Policy and Pratt School of Engineering, connecting defense leadership, national innovation, and ethical engineering education.
“We are honored to welcome Gen. Brown to Duke,” said Alec D. Gallimore, provost of the university. “His decades of service and his forward-thinking leadership embody the kind of interdisciplinary impact we seek.”
As chairman of the Joint Chiefs from 2023 to 2025, Brown was the principal military advisor to the president and Secretary of Defense. But it was his public embrace of innovation—as framed in his now-famous doctrine, Accelerate Change or Lose—that redefined how technology, national security, and leadership intersect.
At Duke, Brown will co-teach in the American Grand Strategy program and support the Character Forward curriculum in engineering, integrating lessons from the battlefield with principles of character-driven innovation.
For students like Isaiah Thompson, a senior studying public policy and AI ethics, Brown’s arrival is more than symbolic. “To learn from someone who’s led at the intersection of technology, leadership, and global security—it’s historic.”
Brown's appointment is also resonating nationally. Just last year, as he was confirmed by the U.S. Senate in an 83-11 vote, North Dakota Senator Kevin Cramer tweeted his support, writing: “Having an airman leading the Joint Chiefs is welcome news… His experience and wisdom will serve him well in his new role.”
In an exclusive statement, Brown reflected on this new chapter. “Serving as executive-in-residence allows me to continue contributing to our nation’s future—just in a new capacity. The opportunity to draw on my experience in national security, technology, and leadership to help prepare the next generation is deeply rewarding.”
Brown’s military résumé is as expansive as it is trailblazing. A former commander of Pacific Air Forces and a decorated F-16 pilot with over 3,100 flight hours, including 130 combat hours, his strategic influence stretched across the Indo-Pacific and Middle East. He also served as deputy commander of U.S. Central Command and held multiple leadership posts in the Pentagon and abroad.
For many in the STEM and defense communities, Brown’s dual expertise—as both an engineer and a strategist—is rare and timely. Jerome Lynch, Vinik Dean of the Pratt School of Engineering, said, “His background as a civil engineer and national defense leader is perfectly aligned with the mission of Character Forward. Gen. Brown demonstrates how ethical engineering and national service are not just compatible—they are essential.”
Brown’s legacy is steeped in both excellence and transformation. As the Air Force's chief of staff and later its top military leader, he championed diversity in leadership and stressed the need for agility amid technological disruption. In a widely read 2021 letter to airmen, he warned, “An idea that is never presented is worse than an idea that does not work.”
This commitment to innovation, inclusion, and accountability aligns closely with STEM Life Magazine’s editorial mission: to illuminate how technology and ethics co-shape tomorrow’s world.
“Gen. Brown is widely respected not only for his operational brilliance, but for his vision of the future,” said Peter Feaver, political science professor and director of the Duke Program in American Grand Strategy. “His presence at Duke will inspire students, faculty, and the wider national security community.”
His transition into higher education is also a symbolic capstone to a career marked by firsts—first African American Air Force Chief of Staff, and now, one of the few high-ranking military leaders to commit to mentoring the next generation from inside the academy.
As the United States Air Force turns 76, Brown’s new flight plan offers a message for the future: the next frontiers of leadership may lie not only in airspace, but in classrooms—where innovation, ethics, and public service converge.