NEH Chair and Flinn Scholar Shelly Lowe recounts her journey

October 31, 2024

By brianpowell

Flinn Scholar alum and National Endowment for the Humanities Chair Shelly Lowe is interviewed by Flinn Foundation President and CEO Tammy McLeod during a visit to the Flinn Foundation.

By Brian Powell
Flinn Foundation

Shelly Lowe laughed when she was asked to define the humanities.

As chair of the National Endowment for the Humanities, Lowe said that’s one of the difficulties of her job.

“Humanities are our creation stories,” Lowe said. “And there are so many creation stories out there from different groups and different people, but they are those things that really teach us who we are as human beings.”  

Lowe, a Class of 1992 Flinn Scholar and University of Arizona graduate, sat down with Flinn Foundation President and CEO Tammy McLeod, Ph.D., during a visit to Arizona for a conversation about her journey from Ganado on the Navajo Nation to Washington, D.C.

Lowe’s conversation with McLeod ranged from Lowe’s childhood — “Being in Ganado was everything” — the lifelong impact of her Flinn Scholar trips to Native reservations, her mission as NEH chair, and her hopes for the future of the Flinn Scholar community.

Motivated to help other Native students

Lowe said getting the Flinn Scholarship set her on a trajectory.

“When I got the scholarship and went to (U of A), I was told fairly often … that you only got this because you’re Native … and only got to go to college because you’re Native. And everybody told me I would fail,” Lowe said.

After some research Lowe learned Native American students do not graduate college in high numbers and many do drop out.  

She wanted to understand why.

“To me it was really hard to hear that. As a freshman I don’t want Native students to come to college and be told they’re not going to make it, so it’s about helping institutions figure out what do we do and how do we best support Native students.”

After graduating from U of A with a major in sociology, Lowe worked for the university as the graduate education program facilitator for American Indian Studies during which time she earned a master’s degree in American Indian Studies.

She later served at Yale University as assistant dean for Native American affairs and director of the Native American Cultural Center. In 2009, Lowe was named executive director of the Harvard University Native American Program. From 2015 to 2022 she also served as a member of the National Council on the Humanities, the 26-member advisory body to the agency she has led since 2022.

Indian boarding school project a priority

At the NEH, Lowe steered the agency into a partnership with the Department of the Interior on the Federal Indian Boarding School Initiative, committing $4 million to help with the digitization of records and an oral history project of the Indian schools in Arizona and around the country.

NEH, an independent federal agency, also supports the “Away From Home” boarding school exhibit at Phoenix’s Heard Museum.

“I always say we have such great stories, and we are such a great nation but we’re not always hearing those great stories,” Lowe said. “We hear kind of one story and then we forget that’s there’s like 10 other stories we could be talking about as well.”

Flinn Scholars have an impact

Lowe said she sees many opportunities for the more than 650 Flinn Scholar alumni to make an impact in their communities.

“As a collective group we have the power to really do something to create better health within the state, whether that’s physical health or spiritual health … and come together and really create some amazing new opportunities,” Lowe said.

During her visit to the Flinn Foundation near downtown Phoenix, Lowe also spent time with current and alumni Flinn Scholars.

“I would not be where I am if it hadn’t been for the Flinn Scholarship and the Flinn Foundation, and it was such a wonderful opportunity, such a wonderful experience,” she said.

“I see the students that are going through now, and I know they are getting such amazing networking and opportunities to come together, and opportunities to visit places they may not have ever been able to visit before.”


The 40th class of Flinn Scholars will be announced by the Flinn Foundation in April. More information about the Flinn Scholars Program is available at flinnscholars.org.