Like Father, Like Daughter Lessons I Learned from the Original Dean Sowell By Stacey Sowell ‘03
For 39 years, Dr. Mack Sowell ’64 served his alma mater in a variety of administrative positions, including as dean of student life and development. Three years after he retired in 2010, his daughter, Stacey Sowell ’03, would be promoted to associate dean of students at Shaw. Here, Stacey reflects on what it means to be “Dean Sowell.” The year I was born, my dad’s official title was dean of students at Shaw University. He had been working at Shaw for more than ten years by then, in various capacities in career counseling, student life, residence life and acting as an advisor to a number of student clubs and organizations. And as I grew, I ran behind my dad to every Shaw function he would allow me to attend. I can distinctly remember choir concerts in the University chapel well before its renovation, riveting plays performed by The Shaw Players, freshman picnics at Jordan Lake, running up and down the hill beside Dimple Newsome Residence Hall well before it had a name, and all of the Shaw students who I looked up to as a child. For eighteen years, I watched Dean Sowell counsel students, bring them to our home for large dinners, travel with them to games, show them tough love, be a father to those who didn’t have one, and give Shaw University as much of his time and energy he could spare. I watched him closely and studied his fairness, compassion, attention to detail 30 | | THE THE SHAW SHAW GAZETTE GAZETTE 30
and commitment to doing what was right -- not realizing how that was shaping my philosophy on higher education. Many years later, after graduating from Shaw, I decided to follow in my father’s footsteps and entered higher education leadership as a career. I always remembered the lessons he modeled of community service, punctuality, respect for authority and protocol, advocacy for students, compassion for others, and his willingness to come early and stay late. I never thought that ten years into my career, I would hear someone say “Dean Sowell” and that person would be referring to me. Dean is more than a person and more than a professional title. It is a legacy with huge shoes to fill. That legacy dictates a strict set of professional ethics and a sacrifice of personal comfort for the greater good. It calls for me to do what is right and just even at the expense of my personal time. It mandates that I think, act and do with little direction, just because the task at hand needs to be done. The legacy of Dean Sowell means never walking past a piece of trash without disposing of it properly; always having time to listen to a student’s issue; being ready to pray for and with a student at a moment’s notice; and somehow finding time to do the things I love with the people I love. It means having pride in my alma mater and being a cheerful and consistent giver. I could go on and on about the lessons I’ve learned from Dean Sowell. Every professional habit that I have that is good, I learned from him. He’s been my biggest critic, hardest teacher, biggest ally and greatest mentor. I am blessed to carry his name and hope that I can continue his legacy in a way that is befitting of all he has accomplished.