John Gabbert Bowman | |
Office: | 10th Chancellor of the University of Pittsburgh |
Term Start: | 1921 |
Term End: | 1945 |
Predecessor: | Samuel McCormick |
Successor: | Rufus Fitzgerald |
Office2: | 9th President of the University of Iowa |
Term Start2: | 1911 |
Term End2: | 1914 |
Predecessor2: | George Edwin MacLean |
Successor2: | Thomas Huston Macbride |
Birth Date: | 18 May 1877 |
Birth Place: | Davenport, Iowa, U.S. |
Death Place: | Bedford, Massachusetts, U.S. |
Spouse: | Florence Ridgway Berry |
Children: | 2 |
Education: | University of Iowa (BA, MA, DLitt) |
Occupation: | Poet |
John Gabbert Bowman (May 18, 1877 – December 2, 1962) was the tenth Chancellor (1921 - 1945) of the University of Pittsburgh and the ninth President (1911 - 1914) of the University of Iowa.
He is best known for initiating and completing the 42-story Cathedral of Learning, the centerpiece of Pitt's campus, over the objections of many faculty and community members. At the time, it was the tallest educational structure in the world. He also established the University of Pittsburgh Press and oversaw the institution of controversial athletic policies that resulted in the resignation in popular head football coach Jock Sutherland.[1]
Bowman was born in Davenport, Iowa. He married Florence Ridgway Berry and they had two children.
He also worked as a journalist in Iowa and Illinois, taught in a one-room rural Iowa school and at Columbia University.[2] From Columbia, he worked at the newly founded Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching.
In 1915, he became the founding director of the American College of Surgeons, where he served until 1921.
Bowman was the first University of Iowa alumnus to become its President, as well as the school's first Iowa-born chief administrator. He earned the B.A. degree in 1899, the M.A. in 1904,[2] and the Litt.D. in 1934. He became a member of the Sigma Chi Fraternity as an undergraduate.
He arrived on campus in 1921.[3] Bowman resigned as chancellor from the University of Pittsburgh in 1945. The trustees named him President Honorarius and awarded him an honorary doctorate of laws.[4]
He died at age 85 on December 2, 1962, in Bedford, Pennsylvania.[5] [6]
He is mentioned in the book, Jewels in Your Crown: Mining the Treasures Within.[7]