Dr. Brewer is the Assistant Professor of History here at Dana College. Last year he received the Dana Faculty Member of the Year award. Brewer loves to read in his free time. In fact, on many Friday nights he stays home engulfed in a good book. His wife just shakes her head wondering how he could stay in reading on a Friday night.

Dr. Brewer does more than just read books, he has written one of his own. Soon after 9/11 Dr. Brewer got a call from a publisher asking him if he could write a book about U.S.-Latin American relations on diplomacy. What was the reason for this? During this time, and even now, the Middle East seems to get an enormous amount of attention. The purpose of the book was to bring some attention back to the Western Hemisphere. Dr. Brewer agreed and has been working on the book for the last few years.

In the book, Brewer talks about the important historical events between the U.S. and Latin America. These events include diplomatic, military, social, and economic aspects. The manuscript for the book is finished, but is still in the final editing stages. The release date for "Border and Bridges" should be around May or June of this year.

This is quite an impressive accomplishment, especially since Dr. Brewer hated history in high school. His first career dream was in the medical field. However, after attending his first year of college, he realized the pre-medical science classes weren't for him. So how did he end up turning his focus to a subject he hated? Well, he realized that he didn't hate history; he hated the way his teachers taught history in high school. His college history professor changed his view on the subject. After completing his first college history course, he realized that's what he wanted to do.

At first he wanted to focus on Altaic studies, which is the study of Asia. In order to do this he would have to learn Chinese. The Chinese courses would take up to eight years. This made him change his focus to Latin America. Spanish would be much easier to learn and would not take as long to learn. He earned a Ph.D. in international history from the University of Albany, State University of New York. He also earned his bachelor's in history and master's in anthropology from Brigham Young University.

Dr. Brewer is quite a busy man. No wonder he stays in on Friday nights to relax and enjoy a good book. This summer people can stay in and enjoy his book.