Author: dpollock

Anita Brown’s tenure at CFR has been like solving a puzzle. You turn and twist puzzle pieces until they all fit together. Putting the pieces together at CFR required organizational skills combined with people skills. At last, at least professionally for her, the puzzle is complete, and Brown is retiring October 1. 

Brown found her way to CFR as a graduate student working for Gene Brody. Starting as a coordinator on a project and nearing completion of her PhD in Child and Family Development, she was headed toward a job in Atlanta working on child abuse prevention. But with a new grant or two in his hands, and appreciating her organizational skills, Brody asked if she would stay on to coordinate them.  

“I thought to myself, well, I will for a couple of years,” she said. That was 25 years ago. 

In the first years after agreeing to stay on, the Center got more grants, and more complexity followed in managing all the aspects of them. Keeping the Center and its people afloat while managing the transitions between grants ending and new ones starting became an important part of the puzzle she had to figure out.  

Brody said her concern for the professional development and well-being of staff was a driving force behind her management style. She made CFR “a place where people felt they wanted to come to work,” he said. 

Then in 2010, a new development gave her yet another focus. The Affordable Care Act led to the availability of funds in Georgia to support home visiting for first time mothers. “It was a big game-changing moment for me,” Brown said. After a decade of making sure other people had what they needed to run projects, “I had something that I was more closely identifying with and able to put my teeth into,” she said.  

Working with other agencies in the state, she was instrumental in setting up the state’s home visiting programs. Years later, the programs were moved under the direction of Georgia’s Department of Public Health. But even now, CFR still provides a range of support services to the programs. 

In the years the home visiting program was developed and CFR resources and personnel hired to support them, Brown continued her close involvement. But CFR of course also continued its primary mission of research, and as always, depended on Brown for management. When the Center got a major grant in 2020, she turned most of her attention back to research management leaving much of the home visiting work to other CFR staff. 

Then last year, CFR’s director and driving force, Gene Brody, retired after 46 years at UGA. It helped put in place the idea for Brown that the puzzle was complete. She had done what she set out to do, and she said she is “excited to see what is ahead for CFR.” 

Now she has a whole new puzzle to figure out. One that is sitting in pieces on the table in front of her as she puts together a life beyond CFR. She said that working with this new retirement puzzle is a little intimidating but also exciting. “I’m so grateful for all the years at CFR, but it’s time to start putting the pieces of my retirement together… I can’t wait to see what it looks like.”