Brian Brownfield
Pearson acknowledges Brian Brownfield’s curriculum innovation
Just three years after coming back to his alma mater to teach, Kirkwood Community College Automotive Technology Instructor Brian Brownfield earned recognition as being the top automotive educator in the country.
In the first-ever Top Automotive Educator Challenge from Pearson,
Brownfield was named one of two winners for the 2012 award. Pearson is a publishing and technology company, specializing in schools and students. Kirkwood’s Automotive Technology program uses several Pearson textbooks.
Brownfield teaches Basic Automotive, Advanced Electrical, Hybrid Vehicle Fundamentals and Automotive Engine Repair classes at Kirkwood. He is part of the college’s well-known Toyota T-TEN faculty.
“Brian is not only developing top notch curriculum to help update a storied program at Kirkwood, he is writing a process guide for writing curriculum and teaching it to other Toyota T-TEN instructors nationwide at Toyota’s Summer Instructional Development Event this year,” said Harper Ann Christopher of Pearson.
“He has come back after nearly 15 years in the field to teach the program that he graduated, and brings school pride along with a passion for educating the next generation of automotive technicians,” added Christopher.
Brownfield, a 1997 Kirkwood Automotive Technology graduate, worked at Pat McGrath Chevrolet in Cedar Rapids almost five years before moving to Florida in 2000, working for two dealerships there. He’s been certified as a Chevrolet master technician, a Toyota master diagnostic technician and has extensive aftermarket training.
Brownfield was nominated for Top Automotive Educator award. Pearson selected finalists from the pool of nominees, then posted the finalists on Facebook for a public vote. Brownfield tied with an instructor from Elgin Community College in Illinois.
“It’s a tremendous honor to be chosen by the public as a winner,” said Brownfield. “I owe credit to Kirkwood, for allowing us to work in an innovative organization, giving instructors creative freedom we need to create top-notch curriculum.”
Brownfield used his Kirkwood Endowed Faculty Chair Award for research and grant funding to install electric vehicle charging stations for training and research.