Shelly C. Lowe is an American academic administrator serving as the chair of the National Endowment for the Humanities.

Lowe is a citizen of the Navajo Nation and grew up on the central part of the reservation in Ganado, Arizona.

[1][2][3] Lowe graduated from Ganado High School and was awarded a full-ride four-year Flinn Scholarship.

[5] Lowe has worked as executive director of the Harvard University Native American Program, assistant dean of Yale College, director of the Yale University Native American Cultural Center, and graduate program facilitator of the American Indian Studies program at the University of Arizona.

[3] She was appointed to serve as a member of the National Endowment for the Humanities by President Barack Obama in 2015 and as chair of the NEH by President Joe Biden in 2021.