2020 Howes Award nomination form

Click here to access the nomination form

Previous winners of the Howes Award:

William E. Leuchtenburg, Kenan Professor Emeritus of History (2015)
John L. Sanders, retired director of the Institute of Government, now School of Government (2017)
Joe W. Grisham, Kenan Professor Emeritus of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine (2018).
Ray Dooley, Professor Emeritus of Acting and actor with the PlayMakers Repertory Company (2020)

Highlights of Jonathan Howes’ Lifetime of Leadership (by Andrew Dobelstein)

Jonathan (Jon) Howes first came to Chapel Hill in 1959 to pursue his master’s degree in in the newly established Department of City and Regional Planning, under the charismatic leadership of John Parker. Upon graduation he moved to Washington, D.C., to work in the Department of Housing and Urban Development, earned a second master’s degree in public administration from Harvard University, and in 1970 he returned to UNC as the director of the Center for Urban and Regional Studies, a position he held for the next 23 years, during which his published research helped establish its national recognition.

Jonathan’s commitment to urban and regional studies was more than academic. In 1975 he decided to run for Chapel Hill Town Council member, a position he held for 12 years during which he drew town and gown closer together. He was elected mayor of Chapel Hill in 1989 and, while not his most important achievement, his most glaring accomplishment was an agreement by UNC to purchase the first blue and white firetrucks, still in use today.

In 1992 James Hunt appointed him secretary of the Department of Environment, Health and Natural Resources, where he established the N.C. Parks and Recreation Trust Fund, and in recognition of his public service, he was awarded the Order of the Long Leaf Pine.

He returned to UNC in 1997 as special assistant to the chancellor and co-chaired the UNC Campus Master Plan. He was an interim executive director of UNC Radio and was elected to and chaired the board of the Carol Woods Retirement Community. He answered the call from the UNC Retired Faculty Association and was elected president-elect in 2014, and he was subsequently elected to serve on the UNC Faculty Council as a delegate representing UNC retired faculty. In his last months he accepted a call to be interim director of the North Carolina Botanical Garden during the time of its search for a new director.

There may have been no greater supporter of Carolina athletics than Jonathan Howes. He had season tickets to UNC men’s and women’s basketball games, Tar Heel football and UNC baseball. He attended as many UNC soccer and tennis games as he could work out. “If there’s a ball in the air, Jon will be there,” commented his colleagues. The revelations of the Weinstein Report fell heavily on Jonathan, as it did on most retired faculty members. He helped draft a statement from retired faculty reflecting concern for the academic integrity of UNC and for its athletic integrity as well.

He was part of and leader in the many difficult struggles that led our university to its recognized eminence and North Carolina as a forward looking state, cautioning how easily our accomplishments slip away if they are not carefully guarded and constantly promoted. Jonathan left a seldom matched legacy as a retired UNC faculty member and public citizen.

Jonathan Broome Howes, April 12, 1937 – May 31, 2015.