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José Antonio Bowen, visionary dean of SMU’s Meadows School of the Arts for the past eight years, will become president of Goucher College in the Baltimore suburb of Towson, Maryland, on July 1, 2014.

Following a nationwide search, the trustees of Goucher announced on March 12 that Bowen, 52, will be their university’s 11th president, succeeding Sanford J. Ungar, who is stepping down. Goucher is a private, coed, liberal arts college with approximately 1,500 undergraduates.

“We deeply appreciate the leadership of José Bowen as dean of Meadows School of the Arts at SMU. He has demonstrated outstanding leadership in developing innovative programs to support teaching, advance research and make an arts education an avenue for greater community impact and career opportunities beyond the traditional pathways of success,” said SMU President R. Gerald Turner. “He has worked collaboratively to expand interdisciplinary programs not only within the Meadows School, but also in cooperation with the other six schools of the University. With his broad background and perspectives in the arts, humanities and sciences, he is an ideal choice to lead Goucher College as president.”

Bowen joined the Meadows School as dean in July 2006 after serving as dean of the School of Fine Arts and professor of music at Miami University in Ohio.

Under his leadership, the Meadows School has undertaken such innovations as establishment of the National Center for Arts Research, a first-of-its-kind center that analyzes the largest database of arts research ever assembled and makes its findings available to arts leaders, researchers and the general public; the Meadows Scholars program, which enables Meadows to offer scholarships that attract the most talented and academically successful students in the arts and communications nationwide; and the Meadows Prize, an arts residency awarded to up to two pioneering artists and scholars each year who are active in a discipline represented by one of the academic units within the Meadows School. The school also has recruited top international faculty – such as former Yale School of Drama dean Stan Wojewodski as chair of theatre; Metropolitan Opera star Clifton Forbis as director of voice; and award-winning Artists-in-Residence Will Power (theatre) and Matt Albert (chamber music) – and launched new curriculum in emerging fields such as arts entrepreneurship, art and urbanism, fashion media and creative computation, as well as a new Ph.D. in art history.

“It is no surprise that José Bowen’s creative, academic and administrative achievements have moved him into the top ranks of educational leadership,” said Paul Ludden, SMU provost and vice president for academic affairs. “He has strengthened important relationships with funding organizations, individual donors, and new community partners. He has become a national figure in the conversation about teaching methodologies and faculty-student interactions. He leaves us well positioned to attract another outstanding dean. We will miss him but wish him the best of success at Goucher College.”

SMU will mount a national search for Dean Bowen's replacement.