Luther Brown spent most of his early life in Elmhurst, Illinois and received his BA from Elmhurst College. He received is MA and PhD in ecology from Ohio State University, and has published two text books in that field. Dr. Brown directed The Center for Field Studies at George Mason University in northern Virginia, and The Bahamas Environmental Research Center on Andros Island. He was a founding member of the Integrated Studies College at George Mason University, where he taught for twenty-three years, before becoming the founding director of The Delta Center for Culture and Learning at Delta State University in 2000 until his retirement in 2014. In 2011, the Delta Center was chosen as manager of the newly created Mississippi Delta National Heritage Area which was established by the Omnibus Federal Land Management Act of 2009. Dr. Brown has published many articles and regularly presents at national and regional meetings, as well as discussing The Delta’s cultural heritage on many television shows. He was named Mississippi Humanities Instructor of 2003 by the Mississippi Humanities Council, and in 2008 The Delta Center received the Public Humanities Achievement Award from The Humanities Council. (Spring 2014)