Directors have been named for the library and institute that will be part of the George W. Bush Presidential Center at SMU.
Alan C. Lowe, a veteran of the National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) who played key roles in planning the libraries of the past two presidents, has been named director of the George W. Bush Presidential Library and Museum. His appointment was announced earlier this year by NARA.
Alan C. Lowe
Lowe began his career with the National Archives in 1989, when he helped assemble records for Ronald Reagan’s presidential library. He later transferred to the Archive’s Office of Presidential Libraries, where he was a lead adviser on the George H.W. Bush and William J. Clinton libraries. For the past six years he has served as founding director of the Howard H. Baker Jr. Center for Public Policy at the University of Tennessee.
Ambassador James K. Glassman, a public policy scholar, diplomat and journalist, has been named the founding executive director of the George W. Bush Institute, a think tank that will be an integral part of the Center.
Glassman’s initial responsibility will be to recommend a slate of Bush Institute research topics and programming to begin in spring 2010. The Bush Institute will operate independently of SMU but will collaborate with interested SMU faculty and students on the sharing of ideas, research and programs.
James K. Glassman
Glassman was a fellow for 12 years at the American Enterprise Institute in Washington, D.C., where he specialized in economics and technology. He recently served as president of the World Growth Institute, a nonprofit organization that promotes policies to achieve prosperity, mainly in developing countries. In the Bush administration he was under secretary of state for public diplomacy and public affairs.
The National Archives will operate the library and museum, and the institute will report to the Bush Foundation.
The library center is scheduled to open in 2013.