At the request of President Jack Woolf of UT Arlington, McDowell returned to the university in 1966 to serve as assistant to the president and, from 1967 to 1969, as dean of student life. He later became the director of the Center for Post-Soviet and Eastern European Studies and the chair of the Department of Foreign Languages and Linguistics. McDowell was the first chairman of the Faculty Senate at the University of Texas at Arlington and was re-elected to that position on four subsequent occasions. He served as faculty sponsor of Alpha Phi Omega, Alpha Chi Honor Society, the Soviet and East European Club, and the Student Congress. He was honored for his teaching, advising, and mentoring of students with multiple awards, including the AMOCO Award as Outstanding Teacher (now Chancellor's Council Award), Best Academic Advisor, Best Advisor of Student Organizations, and four nominations as UT Arlington's candidate for the Piper Award for Outstanding Teaching.