Parting words—and advice—from Janet M. Cooper Nelson after 35 years as Brown’s chaplain

A lot of Brown students and alumni talk about how you made them feel so welcome. What's your secret to doing that?

“Welcoming people is at the heart of religious and spiritual life. So, it's the core reality of our office—it’s what chaplains do.

But personally, it's at the center of my curiosity about people. I want to know about them. I want to hear where they're from. I want to know about their mom. I want to know what’s worrying them. I want to know what they're dreaming of. And I think once you start those conversations with people, they tend to keep going.

I do think it is pivotal work for everybody to do, and it's work that I particularly love doing. It has resulted in a lot of friendships and a really wonderfully open-ended story. So it’s a blessing for me.

It's lovely that other people say, ‘oh, you made me feel welcome.’ But they made me feel welcome, too.”

How can we all be better at welcoming others who are different from us?

“We cannot think of it as easy work. I think it’s difficult work. And when the time around us gets more difficult, we have to spend more time on it. We have to be much more intentional, and not presume that the other person knows we mean for them to feel welcome.

We must be very outspoken and specific about how we intend to not just be positive and pleasant, but to be strong and allied and truly an advocate.

So, it’s introductions. It's advocacy. It's not just a smile—it's got to have a smile with support behind it.”

What’s your hope for how Brown can continue to support students? 

“Anybody who comes here for their education is clearly someone's rising star. There's undoubtedly been sacrifice, engagement, and support that has gone into that student’s life and education before they ever got here. So, I feel like we're receiving someone upon whom many hopes have been pinned. 

I want that student to feel a little relief from that pressure—because I think sometimes it can be too much. I want them to also feel that we’re the best team of advocates and coaches and teachers and allies that they could ever run into.”

What is Brown going to do without you?

“I'm afraid I have to ask the question the other way—what am I going to do without Brown? I'm hoping I will be able to continue to be useful to Brown. 

But I'm excited to see who's coming to do what I've been doing. I'm only the third person to be chaplain at Brown—from 1953 to 2025, only three of us have had the privilege to do this job. I really mean it when I say it's going to be an exciting new chapter for Brown.

I'm sure that she or he will do wonderful new things. I will be looking on with admiration, but will also be standing back in respect and real joy at seeing the work move forward.”