Eugene Lowe, Jr., assistant to the president, to step down at end of Fall Quarter

Eugene Lowe, Jr., who has served as assistant to the president for more than two decades, announced Monday he will step down from his role at the University at the end of Fall Quarter.

Lowe joined Northwestern in 1995 as associate provost for faculty affairs and a member of the president’s staff. He was appointed assistant to the president in 1999, and in that capacity has overseen important University initiatives, including the Morton Schapiro Distinguished Secondary School Teaching Awards, One Book One Northwestern, and the Mellon Mays Undergraduate Fellowship.

He also holds faculty appointments in the Religious Studies department in Northwestern’s Weinberg College of Arts and Sciences and the School of Education and Social Policy, where he teaches regularly in the master’s program in higher education administration and policy. He plans to continue teaching.

“We can all be grateful for the wisdom, integrity and compassion that Gene brought to his work for the past 27 years,” said President Michael H. Schill. “His impact at Northwestern is broad and enduring.”

Lowe has represented the president in collaborating closely with the faculty chair of the Committee on Athletics and Recreation, with the Faculty Athletics Representative, and with the senior leadership of Northwestern University Department of Athletics and recreation (NUDAR) about the Committee’s mission and work.

He also has served as the president’s principal advisor on matters related to Northwestern’s Commencement and related celebrations. Additionally, Lowe has served as the University’s liaison with Garrett Evangelical Theological Seminary, which is located on the Northwestern campus.

“It has been a great privilege to serve as assistant to the president and as a member of the senior staff since 1995,” Lowe said. “Over the course of these 27 years, I have shared the honor of advancing our Northwestern mission on many fronts.”

Lowe said he has been witness to many changes and challenges during his time at Northwestern.

“As the University transitions under the leadership of President Schill, I have concluded that it is time for me to make a shift and to recalibrate my professional and academic commitments,” he said.

A historian of American religion, his writings about religion, race and American culture have appeared in a number of books and journals, including the “Encyclopedia of Religion in America.” He served as a member of the Teagle Foundation-sponsored working group of the American Academy of Religion on the religious studies major and liberal education. His book, “Promise and Dilemma: Perspectives on Racial Diversity and Higher Education,” is based on work sponsored by the Mellon Foundation.

Lowe currently serves as a trustee of Berea College in Berea, Kentucky, and the Poetry Foundation in Chicago. He has served on a number of other boards, including ITHAKA in New York, a nonprofit whose mission is to improve access to knowledge and education for people around the world.

He has served as a consultant-evaluator for the U.S. Department of Education and the Pew Charitable Trust and has served as a member of the external Advisory Board of the Stanford University Center for the Comparative Study of Race and Ethnicity.

Prior to joining Northwestern, Lowe served as dean of students (chief undergraduate student affairs officer) and as a member of the religion department at Princeton University.