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Influential academic and cultural leader Louise Cowan passed away on November 16, 2015, at age 98. Widely known for her lifelong dedication to humanities education, Louise taught at the University of Dallas for fifty-three years, serving as chair of the English department and dean of graduate studies. Fittingly, she became the first professor to hold the eponymous Louise Cowan Chair in Humanities. She co-founded the university's Institute of Philosophic Studies as well as the Dallas Institute of Humanities and Culture. In 1984, the Dallas Institute held the first Teachers Academy, a program initiated by Louise to inspire classroom teachers. The National Endowment for the Humanities called this program "a model for the nation." For her work in the humanities, Louise received a number of awards, including the Arete Award from the city of Dallas in 1965; the Dallas Historical Society's Award in the Humanities in 1980; and the NEH's Charles Frankel Prize—now the National Humanities Award—in 1991. Louise was also an esteemed literary scholar, with academic interests including classical Greek texts, Shakespeare, and twentieth-century Southern literature.

We recommend the touching tributes to Louise included in recent issues of the Dallas Morning News and the University of Dallas's University News.