This page was created by Carrie Pirmann.  The last update was by Aung Pyae Phyo.

The Burma Bucknell Connection

Forrest D. Brown

Forrest D. Brown served as the general secretary of the Christian Association at Bucknell for 39 years before retiring in 1965. He started planning the Burma-Bucknell Weekends in 1949 after Helen Hunt reached out to him and suggested the idea. As the general secretary, he was responsible for organizing the Weekends, including organizing the outreach and transport of Burmese students to Bucknell, and communicating with the State Department and the Burmese Embassy to solicit support and attendance. Through his efforts, these two institutions started attending the Weekends regularly, sending quite a few people every year.

Brown was evidently the driving force behind organizing the Burma-Bucknell Weekends, as Christian Association Records end by his retirement and at some point in time, the organization changed its name to Commitment and Action.

As general secretary, Brown's duties included advising international students, teaching a course in the Department of Religion, and sitting on several committees for Student Personnel Services, Student Aid, Publications and Radio, Orientation Week, and Religious Programs. He might also have been responsible for putting together the collection of minutes and business of the Christian Association from which a large portion of information for the Burma-Bucknell Weekends was retrieved.

Brown is recognized by Bucknell for his efforts, and the Forrest D. Brown Conference Center was established in his honor, used for “educational, religious, and fellowship purposes.” It is in Cowan, PA, and is still used by many organizations at Bucknell today. 

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