Carson, Brad, 1967-

Brad Rogers Carson (born March 11, 1967) is an American politician. A member of the Democratic Party, he served in the United States House of Representatives representing Oklahoma's 2nd congressional district from 2001 to 2005.

Born in Winslow, Arizona, his family relocated several times, ultimately staying in Jenks, Oklahoma, where Carson graduated from Jenks High School. He attended Baylor University, earning a B.A. and becoming the first student in 55 yearsd there to be awarded a Rhodes Scholarship. After earning an M.A. from Trinity College, Oxford, Carson attended the University of Oklahoma College of Law, graduating at the top of his class. After graduation, he took a job at a prestigious Oklahoma law firm, Crowe & Dunlevy. In 1997 Carson was selected as a White House Fellow, where he was assigned to The Pentagon as a Special Assistant to the Secretary of Defense.

In 2000, Carson was elected to the U.S. House from Oklahoma's 2nd district. During his tenure in Congress, Carson was generally seen as a moderate Democrat. He was a member of the conservative Democratic Blue Dog Coalition. He served on the Transportation Committee, the Natural Resources Committee, and the Small Business Committee. On October 10, 2002, Brad Carson was among the 81 House Democrats who voted in favor of authorizing the invasion of Iraq. In 2004, he ran for the U.S. Senate, losing to Republican Tom Coburn. He briefly taught at Harvard University before working as Chief Executive Officer of Cherokee Nation Businesses. In January 2010, Carson assumed a position as professor of business and law and at the University of Tulsa and as director of the National Energy Policy Institute.

In September 2011, President Barack Obama nominated Carson to serve as the General Counsel of the United States Department of the Army; the Senate confirmed him that December. Carson served as Under Secretary of the Army from 2014 to 2015 and as General Counsel of the Army from 2012 to 2014. Carson served as the Acting Under Secretary of Defense for Personnel and Readiness from 2015–16. In that role, he initiated a number of notable reforms to include opening up all combat positions to women, open service by transgender service members, and new recruiting and retention practices.

Carson is currently a senior advisor at the Boston Consulting Group. Carson has also been a Professor of Public Policy for the last two years at the University of Virginia's Frank Batten School of Leadership and Public Policy. He is the only person to have voted on the authorization of the Iraq War in Congress and to have subsequently fought in it. On April 5, 2021, the University of Tulsa announced Carson had been selected to be the 21st president of the university.