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June 20, 2005
Bucknell's Bowen named as new Oxford dean

BY Michael Terrazas

Stephen Bowen, former provost and vice president for academic affairs at Pennsylvania’s Bucknell University, will become the next dean of Oxford College pending approval from the Board of Trustees, Provost Earl Lewis announced on June 17. The appointment is effective Aug. 1.

“We are so delighted that someone with Steve’s administrative track record, commitment to the liberal arts and liberal education, as well as involvement in national educational reform, has agreed to serve as the next dean of Oxford College,” Lewis said. “Steve is the best person to lead this college as it refines its mission for the next decade and beyond.”

Bowen, also a senior fellow at the American Association of Colleges and Universities, has been on leave from Bucknell since last year. A biologist by training, he came up through the ranks at Michigan Technological University, joining its faculty as an assistant professor in 1978 and becoming first an associate professor, then department chair, then associate dean, then vice provost, before serving a six-month term as interim provost in 2000. Later that year he became Michigan Tech’s vice provost for instruction and distance learning before leaving to join the Bucknell administration in 2001.

“Oxford’s mission is very close to my heart as an educator,” Bowen said. “The faculty have a commitment that is humbling and an esprit de corps that is engaging; the president and the provost have high expectations of Oxford and are committed to supporting its progress. Perhaps most compelling is the fact that Emory juniors and seniors who spent their first two years at Oxford eagerly testify to the exceptional education they got there—one that is liberal arts intensive. The ideal to which many liberal arts colleges aspire is realized at Oxford.

Bowen’s academic specialty is in the ecology of fisheries, having published widely on diet and digestion in a number of aquatic species, nutritional value of several water-borne substances, DNA diversity in the Great Lakes, and other subjects. He is a certified fisheries biologist by the American Fisheries Society, and has received grants from the National Science Foundation, the state of Michigan, the Great Lakes Fishery Commission, the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization and other agencies.

Bowen received his bachelor’s degree in 1971 from DePauw University, followed two years later by an M.A. from Indiana University. He earned his Ph.D. in 1976 from Rhodes University in Grahamstown, South Africa.

“Dr. Bowen is a teacher-scholar whose career has been built on bringing the excitement of discovery and knowledge to students,” said Marla Salmon, dean of the Nell Hodgson Woodruff School of Nursing, who chaired the search committee that found Bowen. “His love for liberal arts education and his background as a scientist make him a great fit.”

“Oxford College adds both breadth and depth to the Emory baccalaureate experience,” Bowen said. “As one of the two alternatives for the first two years, Oxford serves those students who want a liberal-arts intensive education. I certainly agree with the many members of the Emory community who have let me know they believe Emory is a richer institution for Oxford’s contributions.”

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