John Rowett OBE is a British historian, academic, and academic administrator.
John S. Rowett started his career at University College Wales in Aberystwyth, Wales, UK.[1]
He was fellow and tutor in history at Brasenose College, Oxford,[2][1] and was active in the creation of the Rothermere American Institute in the University of Oxford in the late 1990s.[3][1]
He served as warden of Rhodes House, Oxford, from 1999 to 2004.[2] As warden of Rhodes House at the time of the centenary of the Rhodes Trust in 2003, Rowett was active, alongside Rhodes Trust chair Lord Waldegrave of North Hill[4] and Jakes Gerwel, chancellor of Rhodes University in South Africa,[5] in the creation of the Mandela Rhodes Foundation, bringing together Nelson Mandela and the Rhodes Trust in a foundation providing scholarships to promote good leadership in Africa.[4][6]
From 2005 to 2007 he served as secretary-general of the Association of Commonwealth Universities.[2]
Rowett co-founded and edited the journal Twentieth Century British History, and co-edited the English Historical Review.[1]
Apart from being a trustee of the Mandela Rhodes Foundation, Howett was also a trustee of the King George VI and Queen Elizabeth Foundation in Windsor, and of the Oxford Centre for Islamic Studies as of 2006.[1]
In 2005, he received an OBE for his contribution to relations between Britain and South Africa.[1]
Critical assessments of Rowett's leadership of the Rhodes Trust have been made by writers such as R.W. Johnson.[7]
This article is based on Dr Rowett's opening address to the Conference of Executive Heads of Commonwealth Universities, University of Adelaide, 9 April 2006