Shelly C. Lowe is an American academic administrator serving as the chair of the

National Endowment for the Humanities The National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) is an independent federal agency of the U.S. government, established by thNational Foundation on the Arts and the Humanities Act of 1965(), dedicated to supporting research, education, preserv ...

Early life and education

Lowe is a citizen of the

Navajo Nation The Navajo Nation ( nv, Naabeehó Bináhásdzo), also known as Navajoland, is a Native American reservation in the United States. It occupies portions of northeastern Arizona, northwestern New Mexico, and southeastern Utah; at roughly , the ...

and grew up on the central part of the reservation in

Ganado, Arizona Ganado ( nv, ) is a chapter of the Navajo Nation and census-designated place (CDP) in Apache County, Arizona, United States. The population was 1,210 at the 2010 census. Ganado is part of the Fort Defiance Agency, of the Bureau of Indian A ...

. She earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in sociology and Master of Arts in Native American studies from the

University of Arizona The University of Arizona (Arizona, U of A, UArizona, or UA) is a public land-grant research university in Tucson, Arizona. Founded in 1885 by the 13th Arizona Territorial Legislature, it was the first university in the Arizona Territory. T ...

Career

Lowe has worked as executive director of the

Harvard University Harvard University is a private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1636 as Harvard College and named for its first benefactor, the Puritan clergyman John Harvard, it is the oldest institution of higher le ...

Native American Program, assistant dean of

Yale College Yale College is the undergraduate college of Yale University. Founded in 1701, it is the original school of the university. Although other Yale schools were founded as early as 1810, all of Yale was officially known as Yale College until 1887, ...

, director of the Yale University Native American Cultural Center, and graduate program facilitator of the American Indian Studies program at the University of Arizona. She was appointed to serve as a member of the

by President

Barack Obama Barack Hussein Obama II ( ; born August 4, 1961) is an American politician who served as the 44th president of the United States from 2009 to 2017. A member of the Democratic Party, Obama was the first African-American president of the U ...

in 2015 and as chair of the NEH by President Joe Biden in 2021. She was confirmed by the United States Senate on February 2, 2022, and sworn into office on February 14. She is the first Native American to head the NEH.

Selected publications

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References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Lowe, Shelly Living people University of Arizona alumni People from Ganado, Arizona Yale University administrators Harvard University administrators University of Arizona faculty Chairpersons of the National Endowment for the Humanities Year of birth missing (living people)