Patti Brown
Hello. I am working on a masters degree in journalism at the Greenlee School of Journalism and Mass Communication at Iowa State University. I was graduated from the University of Iowa with a bachelors degree in social work in 1977 and a masters degree in social work in 1980. I also completed a post-graduate fellowship at the University of Iowa in geriatric studies. I have had a two-pronged professional career as a social worker and also as a writer. I have worked in mental health, hospital and hospice social work, and I have also been a staff writer and columnist for The Catholic Mirror and a correspondent for The Des Moines Register. I have five children, one married daughter and four sons, and ,yes, they are all from one marriage with the same man for the past 32 years. With our youngest in high school now, I have returned to school to blend my background in social work and journalism with more study. My areas of writing interest are on health care, social welfare and public policy issues. I will finish the masters program at ISU in 2008. You can email me or, much to my teenagers' chagrin, find me on Facebook. Two of the more interesting comments I have heard from my kids this fall are: "Mom, tell me you don't have a Facebook page, p-l-e-a-s-e!!" and "You know what You Tube is?"