Randolph remembers former President Kathleen Gill Bowman

Kathleen Gill Bowman

Kathleen Gill Bowman, eighth president of Randolph-Macon Woman’s College, passed away on Tuesday, Nov. 21. She was 80.

Bowman served as president of the College from 1994 to 2006.

A Fulbright scholar to Japan and Korea, Bowman emphasized international programs and cooperation and was committed to understanding the effects of social and racial bias in education.

During her tenure behind the Red Brick Wall, the College increased its enrollment of international students and strengthened its Asian, international studies, and science programs. Other accomplishments during Bowman’s time as president included the creation of the Pearl S. Buck Award, the President’s Award for Globalization, and the Susan F. Davenport Global Leadership Program, as well as the establishment of the College’s Summer Research Program, Presidential Scholars Program, environmental studies and American culture majors, graduate programs in education, and interdisciplinary first-year experience courses.

Bowman was a Phi Beta Kappa graduate of the University of Minnesota, where she also earned a PhD in English education.

Before assuming the presidency, she served as vice provost for international affairs at the University of Oregon from 1989 to 1994 and as its associate vice president for research from 1985 to 1989.

In 1993, she was a Fulbright scholar to Japan and Korea, where she studied recent reforms in the higher education systems of both countries.

Prior to her work at Oregon, Bowman served as a faculty member and special assistant to the president of Reed College, where she also directed the development of programs for gifted pre-collegiate students and two graduate programs.