Biography
William J. Lowe became Chancellor and Professor of History at Indiana University Northwest in July 2010. IU Northwest is the comprehensive campus of Indiana University (IU) in Northwest Indiana and enrolls more than 6,100 students. As Chancellor, his responsibilities include academic leadership and planning on campus and engagement in the Northwest Indiana community. Chancellor Lowe holds the degrees of B.A. in History (Michigan State University) and Ph.D. in Modern History (Trinity College, Dublin).
Chancellor Lowe’s involvements in the Northwest Indiana community reflect IU Northwest’s commitment to the future of the region. He is a member of the boards of the Urban League of Northwest Indiana, South Shore Arts, the Methodist Hospital Foundation, Lakeshore Public Broadcasting, Indiana Campus Compact (which advances citizenship and service in Indiana Higher Education) and is Co-Chairman of One Region. He also serves on the YWCA of Northwest Indiana Trustees’ Council and the Gary and Region Investment Project Executive Committee and Advisory Board.
Prior to coming to Northwest Indiana, Dr. Lowe was Provost and Professor of History at Metropolitan State University in Saint Paul, Minnesota, where he also served as Interim President during the 2007-2008 academic year. Metropolitan State is the comprehensive state university for the Twin Cities of Minneapolis and Saint Paul, enrolled more than 7,600 students during Spring Semester 2010 and, in 2007, inaugurated its first doctoral program (Doctorate in Nursing Practice), followed in 2010 by the Doctorate in Business Administration. Metropolitan State’s “unwavering commitment to civic engagement” was recognized by the Carnegie Community Engagement Classification for both Curricular Engagement and Outreach and Partnerships (2008) and the President’s Higher Education Community Service Honor Roll (Corporation for National and Community Service [2010]).
As Provost, Dr. Lowe was Metropolitan State’s chief academic and operating officer, with responsibility for five colleges and a school, programs on three principal campuses, the Center for Online Learning, and other administrative areas, including the Minnesota Center of Excellence: Advance IT Minnesota. Metropolitan State has also been designated a National Center of Academic Excellence in Information Assurance Education, 2010-2015. Dr. Lowe chaired the Metropolitan State Planning & Budget Council and provided leadership for implementation of the University Plan and the enrollment and revenue framework to protect instructional and growth capacity in a challenging State appropriation climate. He was also responsible for the University’s continuous improvement commitment, through the Academic Quality Improvement Program of the Higher Learning Commission.
Dr. Lowe took an active lead at the University level and in Minnesota State Colleges and Universities System efforts to find collaborative solutions to the need to rapidly expand access to Bachelor’s degrees and graduate programs in the growing and increasingly diverse Twin Cities metropolitan area. During 2007, he served as a member of the Core Learning Outcomes Task Force of the American Association of State Colleges and Universities (AASCU) and Association of Public and Land-Grant Universities (APLU) national Voluntary System of Accountability project. Regionally, he is active with the Higher Learning Commission, as a per reviewer and member of the Accreditation Review Council. He has served as Vice President for Academic Affairs at The College of Saint Rose, Albany, New York; Dean of the College of Liberal Arts at Detroit; and Dean of Graduate Studies at Chicago State University. His career includes administrative appointments at State University of New York at Cortland and Lake Erie College, Ohio.
Dr. Lowe is active in research and writing in the field of modern Irish history and was a Fulbright Scholar. His current project is the history of the Royal Irish Constabulary (R.I.C.), from 1836 until its disbandment in 1922. Articles on the Irish Constabulary have appeared in Irish Historical Studies, Irish Economic and Social History, Éire-Ireland and History Ireland. Dr. Lowe’s book, The Irish in Mid-Victorian Lancashire: The Shaping of a Working Class Community, appeared in 1989. Other articles and reviews have appeared in international journals and he presents regularly at scholarly meetings.
His recreational activities include running, reading (history, fiction and The Guardian Weekly) and travel. Dr. Lowe resides in Crown Point, Indiana with his wife Pamela, who, formerly, was Senior Director of Major and Special Gifts for the Minnesota Zoo Foundation and Director of Development at the University of Minnesota Foundation.
