John Dowling, a former dean of the Graduate School, died Jan. 31 at the age of 88.
Dowling earned his bachelor’s degree from the University of Colorado, where he was elected to the honorary Phi Beta Kappa. During World War II, he served in the U.S. Navy. He was a graduate of the Navy Japanese Language School at Boulder, Colo. He retired from the Naval Reserve as a lieutenant commander after 20 years of service.
During his 45 years in higher education, Dowling chaired departments of foreign languages at Texas Tech University (Lubbock); Indiana University (Bloomington) and UGA. He served as visiting professor at the University of Texas and the University of Iowa; as adjunct professor at the University of South Carolina (Beaufort); and as interim dean of the Schmidt College of Arts and Humanities of Florida Atlantic University at Boca Raton, Fla.
He served as dean of UGA’s Graduate School from 1979 to 1989. He worked with the graduate faculty to initiate new master’s and doctoral programs, among them: mass communications, musical arts, social work, historic preservation and artificial intelligence.
He retired from UGA in 1992 as Alumni Foundation Distinguished Professor of Romance Languages and dean emeritus of the Graduate School.
A funeral service for Dowling was held Feb. 7 in Williamsburg, Va. Contributions in his honor may be sent to Chantel Dunham, director of development, main library, UGA. Make the check payable to the Arch Foundation. Designate the gift to the Hargrett Rare Books and Manuscript Library.
