Jonathan Howes (April 11, 1937 – May 31, 2015) was an American politician and

urban planner An urban planner (also known as town planner) is a professional who practices in the field of town planning, urban planning or city planning. An urban planner may focus on a specific area of practice and have a title such as city planner, tow ...

. He served as the director of the Center for Urban and Regional Studies at the

University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (UNC, UNC–Chapel Hill, or simply Carolina) is a public university, public research university in Chapel Hill, North Carolina, United States. Chartered in 1789, the university first began enrolli ...

from 1970 until 1993. Howes began his political career as an elected member of the Chapel Hill Town Council from 1975 to 1987. He was then elected Mayor of Chapel Hill for two consecutive terms from 1987 to 1991. In 1991,

North Carolina North Carolina ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern region of the United States. It is bordered by Virginia to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the east, South Carolina to the south, Georgia (U.S. stat ...

Governor A governor is an politician, administrative leader and head of a polity or Region#Political regions, political region, in some cases, such as governor-general, governors-general, as the head of a state's official representative. Depending on the ...

Jim Hunt James Baxter Hunt Jr. (born May 16, 1937) is an American politician and retired attorney who was the List of governors of North Carolina, 69th and 71st governor of North Carolina (1977–1985, and 1993–2001). He is the longest-serving governo ...

appointed Howes as Secretary of the

North Carolina Department of Environment and Natural Resources The North Carolina Department of Environmental Quality (NCDEQ) is an agency of the government of North Carolina that focuses on the preservation and protection of natural resources and public health Public health is "the science and art ...

, a state cabinet position he held from 1992 to 1997.

Biography

Early life and career

Howes was raised in

Fountain City, Tennessee Fountain City is a neighborhood in northern Knoxville, Tennessee, in the southeastern United States. Although not a census-designated place (it is grouped with Knoxville for census-purposes), the populations of the two ZIP codes that serve Foun ...

, a neighborhood in northern

Knoxville Knoxville is a city in Knox County, Tennessee, United States, and its county seat. It is located on the Tennessee River and had a population of 190,740 at the 2020 United States census. It is the largest city in the East Tennessee Grand Division ...

. He first visited

Chapel Hill, North Carolina Chapel Hill is a town in Orange County, North Carolina, Orange and Durham County, North Carolina, Durham counties, North Carolina, United States. Its population was 61,960 in the 2020 United States census, making Chapel Hill the List of municipa ...

, in 1955 as a prospective student on high school student visitation to

(UNC). He enrolled at UNC as a freshman. However, he transferred to

Wittenberg University Wittenberg University (officially Wittenberg College) is a private liberal arts college in Springfield, Ohio. It has 1,326 full-time students drawn from 33 states and 9 foreign countries. Wittenberg University is associated with the Evangelical ...

after his freshman years with the goal of originally becoming a

Lutheran Lutheranism is a major branch of Protestantism that emerged under the work of Martin Luther, the 16th-century German friar and Protestant Reformers, reformer whose efforts to reform the theology and practices of the Catholic Church launched ...

minister. He received his

bachelor's degree A bachelor's degree (from Medieval Latin ''baccalaureus'') or baccalaureate (from Modern Latin ''baccalaureatus'') is an undergraduate degree awarded by colleges and universities upon completion of a course of study lasting three to six years ...

from Wittenberg in 1959. Howes re-enrolled at UNC for his graduate studies in 1959, obtaining a

master's degree A master's degree (from Latin ) is a postgraduate academic degree awarded by universities or colleges upon completion of a course of study demonstrating mastery or a high-order overview of a specific field of study or area of professional prac ...

city A city is a human settlement of a substantial size. The term "city" has different meanings around the world and in some places the settlement can be very small. Even where the term is limited to larger settlements, there is no universally agree ...

and regional planning. He moved to

Washington, D.C. Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly known as Washington or D.C., is the capital city and federal district of the United States. The city is on the Potomac River, across from Virginia, and shares land borders with ...

, in 1960 to take a position within the federal

Department of Housing and Urban Development The United States Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) is one of the executive departments of the U.S. federal government. It administers federal housing and urban development laws. It is headed by the secretary of housing and u ...

during the

Kennedy administration John F. Kennedy's tenure as the List of presidents of the United States, 35th president of the United States began with Inauguration of John F. Kennedy, his inauguration on January 20, 1961, and ended with Assassination of John F. Kennedy, his ...

. In 1966, Howes completed another master's degree in

public administration Public administration, or public policy and administration refers to "the management of public programs", or the "translation of politics into the reality that citizens see every day",Kettl, Donald and James Fessler. 2009. ''The Politics of the ...

from

Harvard University Harvard University is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States. Founded in 1636 and named for its first benefactor, the History of the Puritans in North America, Puritan clergyma ...

. In 1970, Howes and his family returned to Chapel Hill from the D.C. area to become the director of the Center for Urban and Regional Studies at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. He served as the center's director for 23 years, from 1970 to 1993.

Political career

Howes was elected to the Chapel Hill Town Council in 1975 and served on continuously until 1987. He was elected Mayor of Chapel Hill in 1987, serving two terms until 1991. Howes focused on improving relations between UNC and the larger Chapel Hill community during his tenure as mayor. Under Howes, Chapel Hill constructed a new

town hall In local government, a city hall, town hall, civic centre (in the UK or Australia), guildhall, or municipal hall (in the Philippines) is the chief administrative building of a city, town, or other municipality. It usually houses the city o ...

, library, and expanded

city park An urban park or metropolitan park, also known as a city park, municipal park (North America), public park, public open space, or municipal gardens ( UK), is a park or botanical garden in cities, densely populated suburbia and other incorporate ...

s and greenspaces. Additional neighborhoods were also annexed to Chapel Hill in 1990, which required attention to community relations. As Mayor of Chapel Hill, Howes also contributed his expertise on

regional planning Regional planning deals with the efficient placement of land-use activities, infrastructure, and settlement growth across a larger area of land than an individual city or town. Regional planning is related to urban planning as it relates land ...

during his tenure on as the Triangle J Council of Governments. North Carolina Governor

appointed Howes as Secretary of the

in 1992. Under Howes, the state government established the North Carolina Parks and Recreation Trust Fund, which provides funding for coastal access programs,

state park State parks are parks or other protected areas managed at the sub-national level within those nations which use "Federated state, state" as a political subdivision. State parks are typically established by a state to preserve a location on accou ...

s and local recreational areas. He served as Secretary for five years, from 1992 to 1997. Howes was later awarded the

Order of the Long Leaf Pine Order, ORDER or Orders may refer to: * A socio-political or established or existing order, e.g. World order, Ancien Regime, Pax Britannica * Categorization, the process in which ideas and objects are recognized, differentiated, and understood * H ...

, North Carolina's highest honor, for his contributions as secretary.

Return to UNC

In 1997, Howes was appointed Special Assistant to the

Chancellor Chancellor () is a title of various official positions in the governments of many countries. The original chancellors were the of Roman courts of justice—ushers, who sat at the (lattice work screens) of a basilica (court hall), which separa ...

James Moeser for Community Affairs at UNC-Chapel Hill. Howes served as the Special Assistant for both Chancellor Moeser and his successor,

Holden Thorp Herbert Holden Thorp (born August 16, 1964) is an American chemist, professor and entrepreneur. He is a professor of chemistry at George Washington University and Editor and Chief of Science (journal). He was the tenth chancellor of the Universit ...

, until his retirement from in 2010. Howes oversaw UNC's " town-gown" relations between the university and the larger community as a special assistant to the chancellor. He and David Godschalk, a former Chapel Hill Town Council member and

professor emeritus ''Emeritus/Emerita'' () is an honorary title granted to someone who retirement, retires from a position of distinction, most commonly an academic faculty position, but is allowed to continue using the previous title, as in "professor emeritus". ...

at the UNC Department of City and Regional Planning, co-chaired the 2000 Campus Master Plan project, which oversaw the planned 6 million square foot expansion of the existing UNC Chapel Hill campus. In addition to his positions at UNC, Howes served as the interim

general manager A general manager (GM) is an executive who has overall responsibility for managing both the revenue and cost elements of a company's income statement, known as profit & loss (P&L) responsibility. A general manager usually oversees most or all of ...

of WUNC Radio, the

flagship A flagship is a vessel used by the commanding officer of a group of navy, naval ships, characteristically a flag officer entitled by custom to fly a distinguishing flag. Used more loosely, it is the lead ship in a fleet of vessels, typically ...

National Public Radio National Public Radio (NPR) is an American public broadcasting organization headquartered in Washington, D.C., with its NPR West headquarters in Culver City, California. It serves as a national Radio syndication, syndicator to a network of more ...

member station for the

Research Triangle The Research Triangle, or simply The Triangle, are both common nicknames for a metropolitan area in the Piedmont (United States), Piedmont region of the U.S. state of North Carolina. Anchored by the cities of Raleigh, North Carolina, Raleigh an ...

area of North Carolina, from 2001 to 2002, while the station sought a permanent general manager. He was also a member of WUNC's Community Advisory Board. He served as the interim director of the

North Carolina Botanical Garden The North Carolina Botanical Garden is a botanical garden operated by the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill in Chapel Hill, North Carolina. The primary goal of the Garden is to research, catalog, and promote the native plant species ...

for almost four months in 2015. Jonathan Howes died of complications from heart disease at UNC Hospitals in Chapel Hill on May 31, 2015, at the age of 78. He was survived by his wife of 55 years, Mary Howes; their three children – Anne Anderson, Betsy Howes-Bean and Bo Howes; and eight grandchildren – Margaret, Elizabeth Karen, and David (Anne), Benjamin, and Rebecca (Betsy), and Jonathan, Maxwell, and Matthew (Bo).

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Howes, Jonathan 1937 births 2015 deaths 20th-century mayors of places in North Carolina Mayors of Chapel Hill, North Carolina State cabinet secretaries of North Carolina North Carolina city council members American urban planners University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill faculty American radio executives Wittenberg University alumni University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill alumni Harvard Kennedy School alumni Politicians from Knoxville, Tennessee

Biography

Early life and career

Political career

Return to UNC

See also

References