PROVIDENCE, R.I. [Brown University] — Hannelore Rodriguez-Farrar, a 1987 Brown graduate, former trustee, and former president of the Brown Alumni Association, has been named assistant to the president at Brown University. Rodriguez-Farrar will begin her duties July 1, 2009. She succeeds Marisa Quinn, who became Brown’s vice president for public affairs and University relations in July 2008, and most recently Brenda Allen, who served in the role on a part-time basis.

“Hanna has served Brown as president of the alumni association, as trustee, as an administrator, and on a number of high-level committees and boards,” Simmons said. “Through her education, interest and experience, she has developed a finely detailed and broad-based understanding of higher education generally and Brown specifically. She is extraordinarily well prepared to assume this role.”

Hannelore Rodriguez-Farrar

Rodriguez-Farrar earned her Bachelor of Arts degree at Brown in 1987, concentrating in the history of art and architecture. After earning her masters at Brown in the same area (1990), she entered the Harvard Graduate School of Education, where she earned a Master of Education (2005) and began work on a doctorate. She also continued her graduate studies in the history of art and architecture at Brown and received her Ph.D. in May 2009.

In her professional life, Rodriguez-Farrar has managed a number of national research projects focusing on education and economics. Among other activities, she is currently involved in two projects at the National Bureau of Economic Research in Cambridge, Mass., that focus on college affordability, family savings strategies for education, and an improved rate of college enrollment among low- and moderate-income families through better access to financial aid information.

Rodriguez-Farrar has been a prominent and active alumna at Brown, serving on more than 25 University committees, from the Corporation Committee on Facilities and Design to the Friends of Brown Men’s Water Polo. In 1994, she was elected secretary of the Brown Alumni Association, became president-elect in 2003, and served as president from 2005 to 2007. As alumni president, Rodriguez-Farrar was also elected to serve a six-year term (2005–11) on the University’s Board of Trustees. (She resigned as trustee upon accepting her new position in the Office of the President.)

“Brown University has been a significant and continuous part of my life since 1982,” Rodriguez-Farrar said. “I cannot think of a more challenging and interesting position than to be so close to the University’s core during this time of fundamental growth, change and academic enrichment.”