Awards

Honorary Degree - 1981

LL.D.

Doctor of Laws

Commencement

Bloomington, Indiana

Presenter: John William Ryan

About Lewis Carnegie Dowdy

Lewis Carnegie Dowdy, Chancellor of the Agricultural and Technical College, Greensboro, North Carolina, has given a life-time of distinguished service to education. Born on September 1, 1917 in Eastover, South Carolina, Dr. Dowdy attended Allen University, from which he graduated with his A.B. degree in 1939. Taking an M.A. from Indiana State College in 1949, Lewis Dowdy returned to Indiana to complete his doctorate in education at Indiana University in 1965. The University is pleased to honor this distinguished educator today.

From 1939 to 1951 he was a school principal in South Carolina. In 1951 Dr. Dowdy was appointed to the faculty of the Agricultural and Technical College of Greensboro, North Carolina, and he has served that institution ever since, as its Dean (1960-64), as its President (1964-72), and since 1972 as Chancellor of North Carolina Agricultural and Technical State University. This career in education has been marked by the commitment characteristic of all great educators to the ideals of the disinterested pursuit and propagation of knowledge, by considerable administrative skills, commendable teaching skills, and active participation in the national councils and boards dealing with education. Among the works authored by Dr. Dowdy are "A Critical Analysis of the Purpose, Philosophy, and Objectives of the Agricultural and Technical College of North Carolina with Implications for Change" (1965), and "Program Proposal for a Department of Agricultural Education and Extension and a Center for Continuing Education in Agriculture and Forestry at Morogoro, Tanzania." Dr. Dowdy has served as a member of the National Education Association, as a member of the Association of Social Sciences Teachers, of the National Society to Study Education, of the National Education Policy Advisory Committee, and of the Land Grant Association. He has served the National Association of State Universities and Land Grant Colleges on its Executive Committee, and as Chairman of its Council of Presidents, and he was the first Black educator to serve as President of this prestigious organization.

Lewis Dowdy has also given considerable service to North Carolina and the city of Greensboro. He is a member of the North Carolina Association of Colleges and Universities, of the North Carolina Teachers Association, of the Board of Directors of the Learning Institute of North Carolina, and the 4-H Foundation. He is President of Greensboro's Human Relations Committee and is active in the city's United Fund and its Community Council.

Lewis Dowdy married Elizabeth Smith on June 26, 1943. They have two children, a son and a daughter.