John N. Low, PhD, associate professor at The Ohio State University at Newark, has been appointed as director of the Newark Earthworks Center (NEC). His term will begin on September 1, 2019, and run through August 31, 2022.
“Since arriving at Ohio State, John has put together not only a strong scholarly record, but an equally impressive record of outreach and engagement” said William L. MacDonald, PhD, dean/director at Ohio State Newark. “I am very happy to announce his new role with the Newark Earthworks Center.”
According to Low, who is a member of the Pokagon Band of Potawatomi Indians and also coordinator of the American Indian Studies minor program at the Newark campus, "I am very excited to join a small but passionate team at the Newark Earthworks Center, as we build upon the foundations laid by former director Dick Shiels and interim director Marti Chaatsmith [Comanche Nation Citizen/Choctaw Nation of Oklahoma descendant]. The Center will continue to grow and evolve. As a center for The Ohio State University we have a unique opportunity to promote scholarly engagement and research as well as contribute to the efforts of World Heritage Ohio to have the Hopewell Ceremonial Earthworks designated a UNESCO World Heritage Site. In the future we will also expand our focus to include earthworks and mounds throughout Ohio, and reach out to scholars, constituents and stakeholders around the world as we make the Ohio State Newark NEC a world class research center."
Low received the American Society for Ethnohistory’s Robert F. Heizer Award for best article for “Vessels of Recollection – the Canoe Building Renaissance in the Great Lakes,” published in 2015 in Material Culture. His book, Imprints: the Pokagon Band of Potawatomi Indians and the City of Chicago (Michigan State University Press), was published in 2016.
He served on the Ohio State Cemetery Law Task Force and has testified before the Ohio legislature regarding establishing an “Indigenous Peoples Day.” Low is the chair of the Ohio State Newark/Central Ohio Technical College Advisory Council for Diversity and Inclusion and a member of the American Indian Studies Faculty Oversight Committee. He has curated three shows reflecting traditional indigenous knowledge at Ohio State Newark’s LeFevre Gallery. In 2015-2016, Low received the COTC/Ohio State Newark President’s and Dean/Director’s Diversity Award. Further, he has served on the oversight committee for the NEC since his arrival at Ohio State.
Low, who teaches in the Department of Comparative Studies, earned a PhD in American culture and a juris doctorate and graduate certificate in museum studies at the University of Michigan. He also earned an MA in the social sciences from the University of Chicago. Before coming to Ohio State, he was a visiting professor in history, law and American studies at Northwestern University, a visiting professor in American Indian Studies at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and executive director of the Mitchell Museum of the American Indian in Evanston, Illinois.
When Low enters the role of director, Marti Chaatsmith, NEC interim director, will resume the position of associate director. University budget cuts in 2015 put the fate of the NEC in question just as the earthworks were on the brink of international fame. Announced in July 2018, the NEC will continue at Ohio State Newark, becoming the regional campus’s only university center. The decision was reached unanimously by Ohio State’s Council of Academic Affairs. The leadership of Chaatsmith was a key factor in this outcome.
The Ohio State University at Newark offers an academic environment that’s inclusive of diversity, challenging but supportive with world-renowned professors and access to Ohio State’s more than 200 majors. It’s where learning comes to life. Research, study abroad and service learning opportunities prepare students for their careers in ways they never expected.
For more information,
Visit:
- The Ohio State University
- Board of Trustees
- Office of Academic Affairs
- Academic Centers at The Ohio State University
- American Indian Studies
- Department of Comparative Studies
- The Ohio State University at Newark
- Commitment to Diversity
- Newark Earthworks Center
- LeFevre Art Gallery
- Bodéwadmi Wisgat Gokpenagen, The Black Ash Baskets of the Pokagon Band of Potawatomi Indians
- September 13 - December 15, 2019.
- The Art of Ngatu, Robin White & Ruha Fifita: Tradition, Innovation and Community in Polynesia
- November 20, 2017 - May 1, 2018.
- My Dream Show, Candi Wesaw [Pokagon Band of Potawatomi]
- Autumn 2014.
- "Newark Earthworks Center to Remain Open and Receive Funding for Next Two Years"
- "Ohio State Newark Assistant Professor Receives Diversity Award"
- COTC, October 7, 2016.
- World Heritage Ohio
- UNESCO World Heritage
- American Society for Ethnohistory
- “Vessels of Recollection – the Canoe Building Renaissance in the Great Lakes,”* [PDF]
- Material Culture, 2015. EBSCO Host.
- Imprints: the Pokagon Band of Potawatomi Indians and the City of Chicago
- Michigan State University Press, 2016.
- Ohio State Cemetery Law Task Force | Task Force Report & Recommendation. September 29, 2014. [PDF]
- Ohio Department of Commerce
- Mitchell Museum of the American Indian
- "Indigenous Peoples' Day: Rethinking American History"
- Dennis W. Zotigh [Kiowa/San Juan Pueblo/Santee Dakota Indian] and Renee Gokey [Eastern Shawnee.Sac and Fox/Miami], Smithsonian, National Museum of the American Indian, 2018.
*Link provided requires a sign in to EBSCO Host Databases. Ohio State University students can use their student log-in to access the database through the university's library page, here.
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