Professor John Lowe’s Generosity Lives on in New Fellowship and Support Fund

John Wharton Lowe, III passed away unexpectedly on August 5, 2023, leaving a hole in the lives of everyone who knew him. However, his memory will live on in Park Hall, fueled by his kindness, his scholarship, and a gift from June C. Lowe, Professor Lowe’s widow. Thanks to Mrs. Lowe’s generosity, the English department is launching the John Wharton Lowe, III Graduate Fellowship and the John Wharton Lowe, III Graduate Support Fund.

“The fellowship and the support fund are both specifically designed to help graduate students who work in the fields that Professor Lowe himself championed throughout his long and distinguished career,” said Roland Végső, the Head of the English Department. “They will provide us a truly special opportunity to recruit some of the brightest students and help them reach their career goals while they are in our graduate program.”

Dr. Lowe is the author of numerous books and articles on American, Southern, and African-American Literature, including Jump at The Sun and Calypso Magnolia. He was the recipient of many national and international awards. He recently completed a landmark biography of his friend, the novelist Ernest Gaines. He was especially proud of his work with students and directed twenty-nine doctoral dissertations.

Although he is known for his work in Southern Literature, his “real love in literature,” was African American literature, and his fondest moments of his career involve teaching courses on the Harlem Renaissance, Black Writers in the South, and Black Women Writers.

“The fellowship and the support fund define the study of Southern literature in broad terms, also providing support for students interested in studying ‘circum-Caribbean literature, or literature that emerges out of the involvement of Mexico, Cuba, Haiti, Jamaica, Barbados and the regions around the Caribbean Sea such as Panama and Belize in transatlantic slavery, the United States slave trade, and/or United States colonialism.’ Furthermore, they also support doctoral students studying ‘18th-21st century African American (including Gullah), Native American, Asian American (including South Asian and Pacific Islander), American immigrant, and Latinx written and/or oral literatures.’” 

Please consider taking part in John and June Lowe’s infinite spirit of generosity by donating to the John Wharton Lowe, III Doctoral Fellowship in American, Southern American or Multicultural American or to the John Wharton Lowe, III Doctoral Support Fund at these links.