and Ph.D. degrees in United States history from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

[1] During 1971–72 Brownell was a senior research fellow at the Institute of Southern History at Johns Hopkins University.

A lifelong interest in international education began with his appointment as the Fulbright Lecturer at Hiroshima University, Japan (1977–78) and continued in a visiting professorship at Sichuan University in China (1987) and appointment as academic specialist for the U.S. Information Agency in Brazil.

In 2000, Brownell succeeded John E. Worthen as president of Ball State University in Muncie, Indiana.

Subsequently, he was interim dean of business, senior advisor for strategic planning and international programs, and interim provost at the University of South Florida St. Petersburg,[6] and for several years as consultant and advisor to the national universities of the United Arab Emirates for the Minister for Higher Education and Research.