Gathering planned in remembrance of Ray Browne

BOWLING GREEN, O.—A memorial tribute to Dr. Ray B. Browne, Distinguished University Professor Emeritus of Popular Culture, will be held at 1:30 p.m. Friday (June 18) in Prout Chapel on the Bowling Green State University campus.

A reception will follow, from 2:30 to 4 p.m. in the Dimling Family Lounge on the third floor of the Bowen-Thompson Student Union, for his family, friends, students and colleagues. Parking is available in the pay lot on Thurstin Street, adjacent to Prout Chapel and the Bowen-Thompson Student Union.

A collection of items from the University Archives related to Browne’s career will be displayed at the reception.

Current Department of Popular Culture Studies faculty member Dr. Matthew Donahue, a former student of Browne’s, will be among those attending. Former colleagues and students participating include Dr. Michael Marsden, who was a popular culture faculty member and American culture studies director at BGSU and is now dean and academic vice president at St. Norbert College in Wisconsin; Bill Schurk, director of the BGSU Sound Recordings Archives, and Ben Urish, now a faculty member at Michigan State University.

Browne died Oct. 22 at the age of 87. One of Bowling Green’s most eminent scholars, he was known world wide as the founder of popular culture studies as a serious academic discipline. His influence on the field and on the development of a legion of scholars was huge, as was the attention he brought to the University. For many years, BGSU was synonymous with “popular culture.”

Obituaries for Dr. Browne appeared in media around the country, from the New York Times to the Washington Post, and as far away as New Zealand.

For further information, contact Dr. Marilyn Motz, interim chair of the BGSU Department of Popular Culture, at 419-372-7863 or mmotz@bgsu.edu; call the department office at 419-372-2981, or contact Bonnie Blankinship, Marketing and Communications, at 419-372-2618 or bblanki@bgsu.edu.


###

(Posted June 14, 2010 )