Howard R. Bowen’s presidency saw major investments in the sciences, including the construction of the Spence Laboratories of Psychology and Van Allen Hall. A new home for basic sciences, which was later renamed after Bowen, was planned during his administration and built under President Willard L. Boyd (1969– 1981). Funding for this project included a grant of $5.1 million from the National Science Foundation as part of a project to develop Centers of Excellence across the United States. Today the building hosts the most concentrated site of research on the campus.
Howard R. Bowen
1908 - 1989
Achievements
- Fourteenth president of the University of Iowa, 1964-1969, and president of Grinnell College from 1955-1964
- Taught economics at the University of Iowa from 1935 to 1942
- Received his B.A. degree from the State College of Washington in 1929, and his M.A. and Ph.D. degrees from the University of Iowa in 1933 and 1935, respectively
- He is remembered for the formulation of "Bowen's law," a description of spending in higher education
- The Association for the Study of Higher Education has given an award in his name, the Howard R. Bowen Distinguished Career Award, annually since 1991. There are annual Howard Bowen Lectures at the Tippie College of Business and Claremont Graduate University.
Building Information
Street Address
51 Newton Road
Year built
1972
Additional building information