Professor Lowe is a historian with research and teaching expertise in both international and European history. At Lesley her courses cover the history of twentieth-century genocides, international law and human rights, and humanitarian social movements. Her courses incorporate innovative forms of history education, such as the award-winning historical role-playing games from Reacting to the Past.
Professor Lowe’s research focuses on the influence of transnational social movements on international law, foreign aid, and national sovereignty from the mid-nineteenth through twentieth centuries. She has conducted archival research in Switzerland, France, Great Britain, Germany, Norway, and the United States. She has held fellowships in both Freiburg im Breisgau, Germany and Geneva, Switzerland, and speaks both German and French.
Professor Lowe’s existing publications analyze the impact of interwar definitions of war victims’ rights on humanitarian aid provision after the First World War. Her first book manuscript examines how the League of Nations Member States used humanitarian aid as a tool to manage the crisis of European democracy from 1917 to 1939. Her second book project examines the effect of decolonization on the International Red Cross Movement from 1947 to 1977, decades during which this traditionally Eurocentric movement asserted its relevance to post-colonial regimes and anti-colonial liberation movements in a rapidly changing geo-political landscape.
Professor Lowe holds a PhD in History from Yale University, an MA and MPhil in History from Yale University, and a BA in History from Pepperdine University.