José Antonio Bowen (born March 11, 1962) is an American author and academic. He served as the 11th president of

Goucher College Goucher College ( ') is a private liberal arts college in Towson, Maryland. It was chartered in 1885 by a conference in Baltimore led by namesake John F. Goucher and local leaders of the Methodist Episcopal Church.https://archive.org/details/h ...

from 2014 to 2019.

Early life and education

Bowen was born in

Woodland, California Woodland is a city in and the county seat of Yolo County, California, located approximately northwest of Sacramento, and is a part of the Sacramento metropolitan area. The population was 61,032 at the 2020 census. Woodland's origins date to 1 ...

, to Wayne Bowen and Celina Antonio. He lived until the age of six outside of

Madrid Madrid ( , ) is the capital and most populous city of Spain. The city has almost 3.4 million inhabitants and a Madrid metropolitan area, metropolitan area population of approximately 6.7 million. It is the Largest cities of the Europ ...

and

Barcelona Barcelona ( , , ) is a city on the coast of northeastern Spain. It is the capital and largest city of the autonomous community of Catalonia, as well as the second most populous municipality of Spain. With a population of 1.6 million within ci ...

. He also spent parts of his childhood in

Atlanta Atlanta ( ) is the capital and most populous city of the U.S. state of Georgia. It is the seat of Fulton County, the most populous county in Georgia, but its territory falls in both Fulton and DeKalb counties. With a population of 498,715 ...

and Italy. When Bowen was six, his family moved to

Fresno, California Fresno () is a major city in the San Joaquin Valley of California, United States. It is the county seat of Fresno County and the largest city in the greater Central Valley region. It covers about and had a population of 542,107 in 2020, maki ...

, where he resided for the remainder of his childhood. Bowen is of Ashkenazi descent on his father's side and

Afro-Cuban Afro-Cubans or Black Cubans are Cubans of West African ancestry. The term ''Afro-Cuban'' can also refer to historical or cultural elements in Cuba thought to emanate from this community and the combining of native African and other cultural el ...

on his mother's. In high school, Bowen was the

valedictorian Valedictorian is an academic title for the highest-performing student of a graduating class of an academic institution. The valedictorian is commonly determined by a numerical formula, generally an academic institution's grade point average (GPA ...

of class, graduating with a 4.0

GPA Grading in education is the process of applying standardized measurements for varying levels of achievements in a course. Grades can be assigned as letters (usually A through F), as a range (for example, 1 to 6), as a percentage, or as a numbe ...

. He went on to attend Stanford University and graduated with a bachelor's in chemistry and two master's in music composition and humanities. Bowen earned his joint doctorate in musicology and humanities in 1994.

Career in academia

Bowen began his academic career in 1982 serving a lecturer at his alma mater, Stanford University. In 1994, Bowen was selected as the founding director of the Centre for the History and Analysis of Recorded Music at

University of Southampton , mottoeng = The Heights Yield to Endeavour , type = Public research university , established = 1862 – Hartley Institution1902 – Hartley University College1913 – Southampton University Coll ...

. He subsequently became the first endowed Caestecker Chair of Music at

Georgetown University Georgetown University is a private university, private research university in the Georgetown (Washington, D.C.), Georgetown neighborhood of Washington, D.C. Founded by Bishop John Carroll (archbishop of Baltimore), John Carroll in 1789 as Georg ...

. At Georgetown, Bowen created and directed the Department of Performing Arts. From 2004 to 2006, Bowen was the Dean of Fine Arts of

Miami University Miami University (informally Miami of Ohio or simply Miami) is a public research university in Oxford, Ohio. The university was founded in 1809, making it the second-oldest university in Ohio (behind Ohio University, founded in 1804) and the ...

. In 2006, Bowen became the Dean of

Meadows School of the Arts The Algur H. Meadows School of the Arts is the fine arts unit at Southern Methodist University, located in University Park, Texas, U.S. It is known for its programs in art, art history, arts administration, cinema, performing arts, advertising, jou ...

Southern Methodist University , mottoeng = "The truth will make you free" , established = , type = Private research university , accreditation = SACS , academic_affiliations = , religious_affiliation = United Methodist Church , president = R. Gerald Turner , ...

. Bowen was elected in 2014 by the Goucher College Board of Trustees to become the eleventh president of the college, succeeding

Sanford J. Ungar Sanford J. "Sandy" Ungar (born 1945) is an American journalist, author, and the inaugural director of the Free Speech Project at Georgetown University. He was the tenth president of Goucher College and the 24th director of Voice of America. Ear ...

. During his tenure, Bowen has undertaken initiatives to redefine the school's admissions process to encourage greater diversity, reshape the curriculum, build upon the campus's infrastructure, and renovate and expand existing facilities. In 2017, Bowen offered to forgo a salary increase and extended his contract with Goucher through June 2022. In October 2018, Bowen announced that he would break his contract and resign as president of Goucher on June 30, 2019. He was succeeded by

Bryan Coker Bryan F. Coker is an American academic administrator, and the 12th president of Maryville College. Coker was vice president and dean of students at Goucher College from 2013 to 2020, where he served as acting president during the summer of 2019. C ...

(Acting President) and then

Kent Devereaux Kent Devereaux is an American composer, director, academic administrator, and the 12th and current president of Goucher College. He was previously the president of the New Hampshire Institute of Art (NHIA) from 2015 to 2019. Education Devereaux ...

. He later told ''Forbes'' in an interview that he left due to feeling "burned out" managing a small college facing financial challenges, saying, " ve years was a long time to be at the point of the spear and in crisis mode."

Music and written works

Bowen is an experienced jazz pianist and has himself composed many Jewish-inspired musical pieces such as a jazz Shabbat, a fusion of

jazz Jazz is a music genre that originated in the African-American communities of New Orleans, Louisiana in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, with its roots in blues and ragtime. Since the 1920s Jazz Age, it has been recognized as a m ...

and klezmer influences, and

Hanukkah music Hanukkah music (or Chanukah music) ( he, שירי חנוכה) contains several songs associated with the festival of Hanukkah. Hanukkah blessings There are three Hanukkah blessings (Modern Hebrew: בְּרָכוֹת לֵחֲנֻכָּה ''Ber ...

. Bowen has performed his jazz-style Shabbat at synagogues. He also composed a Jewish choral music work titled "Voice from the Attic" that includes text from

Anne Frank Annelies Marie "Anne" Frank (, ; 12 June 1929 – )Research by The Anne Frank House in 2015 revealed that Frank may have died in February 1945 rather than in March, as Dutch authorities had long assumed"New research sheds new light on Anne Fra ...

's diary. Bowen served on the executive committee and as a track note writer for '' Jazz: The Smithsonian Anthology''. He was also a founding board member of the

National Recording Preservation Board The United States National Recording Preservation Board selects recorded sounds for preservation in the Library of Congress' National Recording Registry. The National Recording Registry was initiated to maintain and preserve "sound recordings that ...

for the

Library of Congress The Library of Congress (LOC) is the research library that officially serves the United States Congress and is the ''de facto'' national library of the United States. It is the oldest federal cultural institution in the country. The library ...

. Bowen has written more than 100 scholarly articles and edited the 2003 ''Cambridge Companion to Conducting''. His book "Teaching Naked: How Moving Technology Out of Your College Classroom Will Improve Student Learning" was published in 2012, and earned him the 2014 Frederic W. Ness Book Award. In 2017, he co-authored the companion book "Teaching Naked Techniques: A Practical Guide to Designing Better Classes."

Honors and awards

Bowen was awarded a

National Endowment for the Humanities The National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) is an independent federal agency of the U.S. government, established by thNational Foundation on the Arts and the Humanities Act of 1965(), dedicated to supporting research, education, preserv ...

fellowship and was a

Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts The Royal Society for the Encouragement of Arts, Manufactures and Commerce (RSA), also known as the Royal Society of Arts, is a London-based organisation committed to finding practical solutions to social challenges. The RSA acronym is used m ...

. In 2010, he was honored by Stanford University as a Distinguished Alumni Scholar. Bowen was awarded the 8th annual Ernest L. Boyer Award in 2018 by the New American Colleges and Universities.

Personal life

Bowen and his wife, Kimberly, have one child, a daughter named Naomi.

References

External links

*
Goucher College profile
, - {{DEFAULTSORT:Bowen, José Antonio Living people 1952 births American people of Cuban descent American people of Cuban-Jewish descent Jewish American academics Jewish American jazz composers People from Woodland, California People from Barcelona People from Madrid People from Fresno, California People from Atlanta Stanford University alumni Jewish American writers Miami University faculty Academics of the University of Southampton Georgetown University faculty Southern Methodist University faculty Presidents of Goucher College African-American Jews 21st-century American Jews