Austin College Announces Rick Lowe as the 2024 Posey Leadership Award Recipient
SHERMAN, TEXAS— Austin College announces Rick Lowe as the Posey Leader-In-Residence and recipient of the 2024 Posey Leadership Award. Lowe is a Houston-based artist and activist who has worked with communities around the world to use art as a springboard for social understanding.
Perhaps best known as the founder of Houston’s Project Row Houses, his practice is rooted in working with members of a community to address and resolve social issues. Lowe has exhibited art around the globe and his many accolades include the Heinz Award in the arts and humanities, 2002; the Creative Time Annenberg Prize for art and social change, 2010; an appointment to the National Council on the Arts by President Barack Obama, 2013; and the MacArthur “Genius Grant” Fellowship, 2014.
As the Posey Leader-In-Residence, Lowe will offer four sessions for students throughout the year touching on different aspects of his work. The first of these, entitled Creativity and Community, will be held on Monday, October 30. Lowe will be on campus presenting in person for the first student session.
The remaining student sessions will be held in spring of 2024, leading up to the Posey Leadership Award Convocation on April 4, 2024. The three spring sessions for students will be hosted virtually in partnership with Austin College professors and will cover the topics of servant leadership and community involvement, social determinants of health, and working within systems to create positive change.
Formally launched in 2005 and made possible through the generosity of Sally and Lee Posey of Dallas, the Austin College Posey Leadership Award honors an outstanding individual who has demonstrated the principles of servant leadership by taking a courageous stand on a public policy issue that advances a humanitarian or educational purpose; or serving the youth of a state, nation, or international community to improve the quality of health, educational, or community services; or by creating opportunities for young people that help them enhance their educational experience and move to a new level of service to society. Past Posey Leadership Award recipients include Sylvia Acevedo in 2023, Barbara Pierce Bush in 2018, Dr. Nathan Wolfe in 2014, and Wendy Kopp in 2006.