Joe Dowling received an honorary Doctor of Laws degree from St. Thomas during a Town and Gown Forum held on Nov. 4.
University honors Guthrie Theater's Joe Dowling
Joe Dowling, artistic director of the Guthrie Theater, received an honorary Doctor of Laws degree from St. Thomas earlier this month.
The university honored Dowling during a Town and Gown Forum Nov. 4 at the Guthrie, which moved into its new home on the Mississippi River in downtown Minneapolis last summer.
The citation praised Dowling for his skills in “developing an artistic tour de force” at the Guthrie and “reinforcing the fundamental importance of the arts in our lives.”
Dowling is a Dublin native who spent more than 25 years as an actor and director in Ireland and with touring companies in North America before arriving in Minneapolis in 1995 to become the Guthrie’s seventh artistic director. He rejuvenated the Guthrie by doubling subscriptions, sponsoring regional touring productions and launching a summer program for young actors around the country. He also led the effort to raise $125 million for the new Guthrie, which has three theaters with a total of 2,000 seats.
Dowling’s wife, Siobhan Cleary, is a former member of the St. Thomas Board of Trustees and has a master’s degree in counseling psychology from the university.
