Upon returning from his mission, he earned a bachelor"s degree in Russian from Brigham Young University, a master"s degree from Syracuse University, and a Doctor of Philosophy from Harvard University. In 1973, Browning returned to live in Russia for six months as he researched his Doctor of Philosophy dissertation.
In 1969, Browning lived in Moscow for six months while he worked as a guide for a United States Information Agency exhibit. In the 1980s, he founded a Utah County chapter of Utahns Against the Nuclear Arms Race and became a peace activist. This mission was headquartered in Helsinki, but all its assigned missionaries preached in Russia, the Baltic states, and Ukraine.
In February 1992, the Finland Helsinki East Mission was dissolved and divided into the Russia Moscow Mission, the Russia Saint St. Petersburg Mission, and the Ukraine Kiev Mission.
Browning became the first president of the Moscow Mission and served in this capacity until July 1993. He served two terms as the chair of the Department of Germanic and Slavic Languages.
He retired and is a professor emeritus of Brigham Young University.
Browning spent two years as a member of the faculty of Bryn Mawr College in Pennsylvania, and then joined the faculty of Brigham Young University in Provo, Utah as a professor of Russian language and literature. After his mission service, Browning returned as a faculty member of Brigham Young University.
