Shelly Brown Dobek Wins AFA Award

Over the course of her 29-year career in the field of fraternity and sorority life (FSL), Shelly Brown Dobek has dedicated herself to enhancing and expanding the FSL experience for students, faculty and staff at campuses across the country. 

Recently, Brown Dobek was honored with the Dr. Robert H. Shaffer Award by the Association of Fraternity/Sorority Advisors (AFA), in recognition of her extensive contributions to the organization throughout her career. She will receive this prestigious lifetime achievement award in December.

“When you’re really young in the field and you see these folks stand up and win those awards, those are the people that you’ve looked up to and that you’ve really admired,” Brown Dobek said. “And then to have some of my colleagues, friends or people that I’ve worked with over the years reach out and say ‘Do you realize that’s you now?’ is overwhelming. It’s been good to dig in, do good work and have that work acknowledged. It’s not often in our lives that we’re lifted up by our peers and celebrated, so I’m really grateful for that.” 

The award is presented annually to an individual in the field of higher education who has demonstrated a long-term commitment to fraternities and sororities, and that certainly describes Dobek. She’s currently the university’s director of Fraternity and Sorority Life, and has spent 23 years working at NC State.

Over the course of her career, Brown Dobek has also worked with several organizations dedicated to improving FSL programs across the country. She spent 17 years working for CampusSpeak, spending weekends traveling to hundreds of campuses and speaking with students about various topics. Dobek called facilitation one of her favorites of the many hats she’s worn over the years.

Another role she’s enjoyed in several different capacities with AFA was serving as an elected member of the Association Executive Board for 9 years, serving as president, chair of the nominations and elections committee and vice president of administration and finance (VPAF). In her time as VPAF, Dobek developed the association’s first pro forma.

“I was able to help us project long term for how to adjust our revenue from conferences or membership dues, how to think about our investments differently, and really help the association plan out a 5, 10, 15-year future, which was much more forecasting than we’d ever really done in the past,” she said. “I really enjoyed that work and sitting on a board is like being surrounded by people who think bigger and deeper than you do on a normal basis. So that environment shaped me to be more of a strategic thinker, be critical in my work and then come back to NC State and apply those things to my own work.”

Brown Dobek said that her proudest accomplishment at NC State is one that also received an award. 

Last year, NC State’s Greek Village completed the fourth phase of a long-term plan construction project, adding three new housing options for fraternities and sororities, each containing townhomes of various sizes and scales to allow more fraternities and sororities to have a place and space in the village. 

“That has been a labor of love for 17 years that we’ve been working to get those townhomes open,” Brown Dobek said. 

The Greek Village Redevelopment, which includes 10 new privately owned houses and three university owned buildings, including 11 chapter units and 276 beds, received an Elevation in Practice Inclusion Award from AFA.

In 2006, former NC State chancellor James L. Oblinger appointed a task force to develop a new Greek Village, intentionally including voices from chapters with varied histories, differing chapter sizes and all councils. The resulting master plan outlined a commitment to provide place and space for all organizations, recognition that not all groups were equally resourced and designated land for the townhomes.

“That project and helping change the narrative around who’s affiliated and how we make space for those students to be a part of that community has probably been the cherry on top for me,” Brown Dobek said.