California State University, San Bernardino
Dr. Paulette D. Brown-Hinds is a well-known and widely respected philanthropist, business and community leader who has made significant contributions to different communities throughout the state. She is the founder of Voice Media Ventures and a second-generation publisher of The Black Voice News, the first Black American online news publication on the West Coast. Under her leadership as the Publisher, The Black Voice News has chronicled some of the most important stories impacting the lives of Black Californians through giving a “voice” to the community while expanding its scope of civic involvement and addressing issues from disparities in health, education and wealth to police violence, social justice and civil rights battles. An award-winning columnist and Knight Digital Media Fellow, Brown-Hinds has nearly thirty years’ experience in media, communications and community engagement.
Her interest in local journalism and doing work for the public good has led her to serve on multiple influential boards, including the James Irvine Foundation, American Press Institute, CalMatters, California Press Foundation, as the Executive Director for the League of California Cities African-American Caucus, and the California News Publishers Association, the largest and oldest trade association for the news publishing industry in the state. In 2019, she served as president of the board, becoming the first African-American elected to lead the organization. She is also the first African-American to chair the Inland Empire Community Foundation board.
As a life-long student of African-American literature, culture and history, Brown-Hinds leads Underground Railroad Study Tours for the Black Voice Foundation, stewards a collection of rare antebellum slavery artifacts and is the founder of Mapping Black California, a community mapping and STE[A]M initiative. She has published various scholarly articles on 20th century Black women writers. Additionally, she taught expository writing to students in the College of Social & Behavioral Sciences as an adjunct professor at CSUSB between 1993-2013. Since 2016, she has served as an adjunct professor at the University of California, Riverside, teaching a course on connecting students in media and the arts with the broader community.
In recognition of her many accomplishments and extensive contributions to the university and the community, the Board of Trustees of the California State University, and California State University, San Bernardino are proud to confer upon Dr. Paulette D. Brown-Hinds the honorary degree of Doctor of Humane Letters.