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 university, private Liberal arts colleges in the United States, liberal arts college in Towson, Maryland, United States. Founded in 1885 as a Nonsectarian, nonsecterian Women's colleges in the United States, ...

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, United States. Located approximately northwest of Sacramento, it is a part of the Sacramento metropolitan area. The population continues to grow every year, with a growth ra ...

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

Madrid Madrid ( ; ) is the capital and List of largest cities in Spain, most populous municipality of Spain. It has almost 3.5 million inhabitants and a Madrid metropolitan area, metropolitan area population of approximately 7 million. It i ...

and

Barcelona Barcelona ( ; ; ) is a city on the northeastern coast of 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 c ...

. He also spent parts of his childhood in

Atlanta Atlanta ( ) is the List of capitals in the United States, capital and List of municipalities in Georgia (U.S. state), most populous city in the U.S. state of Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia. It is the county seat, seat of Fulton County, Georg ...

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

Fresno, California Fresno (; ) is a city in the San Joaquin Valley of California, United States. It is the county seat of Fresno County, California, Fresno County and the largest city in the greater Central Valley (California), Central Valley region. It covers a ...

, where he resided for the remainder of his childhood. Bowen is of

Ashkenazi Ashkenazi Jews ( ; also known as Ashkenazic Jews or Ashkenazim) form a distinct subgroup of the Jewish diaspora, that Ethnogenesis, emerged in the Holy Roman Empire around the end of the first millennium Common era, CE. They traditionally spe ...

descent on his father's side and

Afro-Cuban Afro-Cubans () or Black Cubans are Cubans of full or partial sub-Saharan African ancestry. The term ''Afro-Cuban'' can also refer to historical or cultural elements in Cuba associated with this community, and the combining of native African a ...

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

valedictorian Valedictorian is an academic title for the class rank, highest-performing student of a graduation, graduating class of an academic institution in the United States. The valedictorian is generally determined by an academic institution's grade poin ...

of class, graduating with a 4.0

GPA Grading in education is the application of standardized measurements to evaluate different levels of student achievement in a course. Grades can be expressed as letters (usually A to F), as a range (for example, 1 to 6), percentages, or as num ...

. He went on to attend

Stanford University Leland Stanford Junior University, commonly referred to as Stanford University, is a Private university, private research university in Stanford, California, United States. It was founded in 1885 by railroad magnate Leland Stanford (the eighth ...

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,

. In 1994, Bowen was selected as the founding director of the Centre for the History and Analysis of Recorded Music at

University of Southampton The University of Southampton (abbreviated as ''Soton'' in post-nominal letters) is a public university, public research university in Southampton, England. Southampton is a founding member of the Russell Group of research-intensive universit ...

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

Georgetown University Georgetown University is a private university, private Jesuit research university in Washington, D.C., United States. Founded by Bishop John Carroll (archbishop of Baltimore), John Carroll in 1789, it is the oldest Catholic higher education, Ca ...

. 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 university, public research university in Oxford, Ohio, United States. Founded in 1809, it is the second-oldest List of colleges and universities in Ohio, university in Ohi ...

. 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 advertising, art, art history, arts administration, cinema, performing arts, jou ...

Southern Methodist University Southern Methodist University (SMU) is a Private university, private research university in Dallas, Texas, United States, with a satellite campus in Taos County, New Mexico. SMU was founded on April 17, 1911, by the Methodist Episcopal Church, ...

. Bowen was elected in 2014 by the Goucher College Board of Trustees to become the eleventh president of the college, succeeding Sanford J. Ungar. 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 (Acting President) and then Kent 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 Shabbat (, , or ; , , ) or the Sabbath (), also called Shabbos (, ) by Ashkenazi Hebrew, Ashkenazim, is Judaism's day of rest on the seventh day of the seven-day week, week—i.e., Friday prayer, Friday–Saturday. On this day, religious Jews ...

, 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. Its roots are in blues, ragtime, European harmony, African rhythmic rituals, spirituals, h ...

and

klezmer Klezmer ( or ) is an instrumental musical tradition of the Ashkenazi Jews of Central and Eastern Europe. The essential elements of the tradition include dance tunes, ritual melodies, and virtuosic improvisations played for listening; these wou ...

influences, and Hanukkah music. 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 Frank (, ; 12 June 1929 – February or March 1945)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 li ...

'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 tha ...

for the

Library of Congress The Library of Congress (LOC) is a research library in Washington, D.C., serving as the library and research service for the United States Congress and the ''de facto'' national library of the United States. It also administers Copyright law o ...

. 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, commonly known as the Royal Society of Arts (RSA), is a learned society that champions innovation and progress across a multitude of sectors by fostering creativity, s ...

. In 2010, he was honored by

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 male non-fiction writers American people of Cuban descent American people of Cuban-Jewish descent Jewish American academics American jazz composers Jewish American composers Jewish jazz musicians People from Woodland, California Academics from Barcelona Academics from Madrid People from Fresno, California People from Atlanta Stanford University alumni Jewish American non-fiction 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