Background
Brownell was born in Smethport, Pennsylvania on May 19, 1895.
Brownell was born in Smethport, Pennsylvania on May 19, 1895.
He graduated from Allegheny College in 1917. He received a Doctor of Philosophy in 1926 from the University of Chicago.
From 1930 to 1949 he was a professor of educational psychology at Duke University where he did his most important research. From 1950 to his retirement in 1962 he was the Dean of the University of California, Berkeley Graduate School of Education.