Acting President, Spring 2024
Provost
Joined Juniata Staff in 2014
814-641-3123
bowenl@juniata.edu
Lauren Bowen, Ph.D., has served as Provost and Professor of Politics at Juniata College since 2014. In Bowen’s role as the senior academic officer, she has been instrumental in articulating a vision for student learning. Central to that has been the renovation of the academic library; funding for that was a key priority of the college’s comprehensive campaign and was supported by the National Endowment for the Humanities. The Statton Learning Commons will open in January 2024. Her commitment to preparing students for life after college has also prompted her to lead the faculty in curricular development including new programs in Criminal Justice, Data Science, Neuroscience, Public Health, Legal Studies, and Exercise Science among others. She led a comprehensive revision of general education and graduation requirements supported in part through funding from the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation totaling $650,000. The Curriculum is notable for its emphasis on local and global engagement, ethical discernment, and a focus on understanding how knowledge is created and valued. Under her leadership, the College has received research and program grants from the National Science Foundation, the Sherman Fairchild Foundation, and the National Endowment for the Humanities among others. Previously, she served as associate academic vice president for student learning initiatives and diversity at John Carroll University. She was an American Council on Education Fellow at the College of Wooster in OH. She earned her master’s and Ph.D. in political science from the University of Kentucky and was elected Phi Beta Kappa at The Ohio State University where she earned her BA.