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][2] In 2008 professor McDowell was named director of the Carter G. Woodson Institute for African-American and African Studies, at the University of Virginia.

She wrote about her childhood in her debut memoir Leaving Pipe Shop: Memories of Kin.

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.