Dr. Dixie Loraine Dowis McGinty

Sylva, N.C. - Dr. Dixie Loraine Dowis McGinty, 51, died March 25 at her home in Sylva, N.C., after an illness of several months. She was a professor in the Department of Educational Leadership and Foundations at Western Carolina University, Sylva, N.C.
A native of Sylvania, Ga., Dixie was the daughter of Dick and Ouida Dowis of Waleska, Ga., and the widow of Dr. Miles McGinty, of Moultrie, Ga., who taught German at the Marist School in Atlanta for 20 years and died in 2006.
Dixie was a graduate of the Westminster Schools, Atlanta, where she was a National Merit Scholar and won numerous awards and honors, including first place in the National Spanish Exam for high school students. After graduation, she studied piano performance as a Daniel Music Scholar at Converse College, Spartanburg, S.C. After two years at Converse, she was accepted into the honors program of the University of Georgia, where she earned her B.A. degree, magna cum laude, in German and completed all course work for her Master's in German Language and Literature.
She continued her German language studies at the Goethe Institute in Germany and later was awarded a Fulbright Scholarship to study Indo-European Linguistics at the University of Bonn, Germany. Upon her return to Georgia, she taught German at Westminster and Spanish at Pace Academy.
Later she enrolled in Georgia State University and earned her Ph.D. in statistics, research and evaluation in 1996. She and her husband both accepted positions at Western Carolina, where Dixie was instrumental in starting the university's only doctoral program at the university.
Among many awards for her work, in 2004 Dixie won the University's prestigious Botner Award for Superior Teaching, and shortly before her death, she was given the Legislative Award for Excellence in Teaching. She was a member of Phi Beta Kappa, the American Educational Research Association, the Unitarian Universalist Fellowship, the Cullowhee Rotary Club and the Cullowhee Running and Social Club.
She was the author of Judgmental Standard Setting Using a Cognitive Components Model, a book published in 1996, as well as numerous professional publications and presentations at national and international conferences.
In addition to her parents, she is survived by a brother, James R. Dowis Jr.; a sister-in-law, Denise K. Dowis; two nieces, Jamie and Jodi Dowis, all of Ball Ground, Ga.; sisters-in-law, Donna McGinty and Nancy Graham; and brother-in-law, Dr. Ray McGinty of Greensboro, Ga.
A memorial service will be held on Saturday, April 4, at 10 a.m. in the Hoey Auditorium at Western Carolina University.
The family has asked that contributions, in lieu of flowers, be sent to The Dixie L. and Miles S. McGinty Scholarship, c/o WCU Foundations, HFR 201, Western Carolina University, Cullowhee, NC 28723.
An online guest registry may be signed at www.garrettfuneralsandcremations.com, sponsored by the staff of Garrett Funerals and Cremations.