Assistant VP Dennis Brown retiring after three-plus decades at Notre Dame
Dennis Brown, assistant vice president in the Office of Public Affairs and Communications at the University of Notre Dame and its spokesman from 2008 to 2023, will retire at the end of December after a 33-year career at the University.
In his role as spokesman for 15 years, Brown spoke on behalf of the nation’s leading Catholic university on a wide range of high-profile events, including four presidential and two vice-presidential visits, as well as innumerable speeches by Supreme Court justices, national and international political figures, Catholic Church and other religious leaders, astronauts, athletes, CEOs and others. He also played a substantial role in the planning of a tribute for legendary Notre Dame President Rev. Theodore M. Hesburgh, C.S.C., upon his passing in 2015 and spoke at dozens of University alumni club events across the country.
In addition to speaking for the University to the media, alumni, faculty, staff, students and the general public, Brown provided University leadership, faculty and staff with strategic counsel on a wide array of issues; developed statements and op-eds; prepared talking points and FAQs; delivered and organized media training; prepped officials for media visits, news conferences and interviews; served as a leader on the crisis communications team; and provided oversight of the Offices of Media Relations, Internal Communications and Strategic/Brand Content. He is the recipient of writing and crisis communications awards from the Council for the Advancement and Support of Education and is a member of the Higher Education Roundtable.
Brown, 70, joined Notre Dame’s communications staff as an assistant director of media relations in 1991 and was elevated to associate director five years later. Prior to his time at Notre Dame, Brown was an award-winning writer and editor for 15 years at the Colorado Springs Sun, Phoenix Gazette and San Diego Tribune as a sportswriter and desk editor for the first two and news and copy editor for the latter. His assignments in Colorado and Arizona included collegiate athletics, the Olympics, Major League Baseball and general news and feature writing. He covered the Jan. 2, 1989, Fiesta Bowl game in which Notre Dame defeated West Virginia to win its most recent national championship. In San Diego, he rotated with colleagues editing and laying out the inside of the news section, editing all news stories, writing headlines and editing photos.
Brown is a graduate of Washington University in St. Louis with a major in political science and concentration in journalism. He was elected to the Junior Men’s Honorary Society and was a co-captain and four-year letter winner on the varsity baseball team. He did graduate studies at Arizona State University.
Brown has served in South Bend and Mishawaka as a board chair for the Literacy Council of St. Joseph County and Young Life Michiana, an elder at Oak Creek Community Church and a board member for the National Youth Sports Program at Notre Dame and the Harris Township Baseball/Softball league.
Brown and his wife, Debbie, are the parents of two sons, Connor and Ryan, graduates of Notre Dame in 2016 and 2017, respectively. Their daughter-in-law, Mackenzie, is a 2019 graduate of the University. Debbie was the head volleyball coach at Notre Dame for 24 years and was elected in 2017 to the American Volleyball Coaches Association Hall of Fame.
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