| Deborah E. McDowell | |
| Workplaces: | University of Virginia, Carter G. Woodson Institute of African-American and African Studies |
| Alma Mater: | Purdue University |
| Thesis Title: | "Women on Women: The Black Woman Writer of the Harlem Renaissance--Jessie Fauset, Nella Larsen, Zora Neale Hurston" |
| Main Interests: | African-American Literature and Culture,Women's Literature |
| Awards: | Honorary Doctorate, Purdue University, Helen Homans Gilbert Prize Lectureship, Harvard University, Zintl Leadership Award |
Deborah E. McDowell (born 1951) is a scholar, author and member of the University of Virginia faculty since 1987 where she serves as the Alice Griffin professor of Literary Studies.[1] In 2008 professor McDowell was named director of the Carter G. Woodson Institute for African-American and African Studies, at the University of Virginia.[2]
McDowell was born and raised in Bessemer, Alabama. She wrote about her childhood in her debut memoir Leaving Pipe Shop: Memories of Kin.
McDowell received a B.A. from Tuskegee University, and M.A. and Ph.D. from Purdue University. She has been on the faculty of the University of Virginia since 1987. She founded the African-American Women Writers Series at Beacon Press, and was its editor from 1985 to 1993. Deborah McDowell was featured in the documentary Unearthed and Understood.
In 2018, she was awarded the Zintl Leadership Award by the Maxine Platzer Lynn Women's Center.[3]