In Memoriam: Mary Lowe Good, 1931-2019

Mary Lowe Good, the founding dean of the Donaghey College of Engineering and Technology at the University of Arkansas at Little Rock, died late last month in her sleep at her home in Little Rock, Arkansas. She was 88 years old.

Dean Good was born in Grapevine, Texas, at the height of the Great Depression. her family moved to Arkansas when she was in junior high school. A graduate of what is now the University of Central Arkansas, Dr. Good earned a Ph.D. in inorganic chemistry at the flagship campus of the University of Arkansas in Fayetteville.

Dr. Good began her academic career at Louisiana State University in Baton Rouge. She later became part of the founding faculty of what is now the University of New Orleans. She returned to Baton Rouge as dean of the School of Engineering.

Afrter a time in the corporate sector, Dr. Good served as dean of the College of Engineering and Technology at the University of Arkansas at Little Rock from its founding in 1999 until her retirement in June 2011. During this period she served a term as president of the American Association for the Advancement of Science.

In a 2009 speech in Little Rock, former U.S. president Bill Clinton said that “I think 50 years from now, when you look back, you might think that the establishment of the College of Engineering and Information Technology and the luring of this astonishing woman into this job may wind up being the most significant thing this institution has done since its creation.”

Dr. Good served in the Clinton administration as Under Secretary for Technology in the U.S. Department of Commerce. She also was acting Secretary of Commerce.