School of Social Work Looks to Faculty for New Dean

Posted on Aug. 12, 2016

Gary L. Bowen ’76 (MSW), a decorated teacher and longtime faculty member in the School of Social Work who helped develop the school’s doctoral program, has been chosen its new dean.

Bowen succeeds Jack Richman, who was dean for 14 years and will return to the classroom. Bowen is a Kenan Distinguished Professor who co-directs the School Success Profile project, an assessment tool used to design support services for middle and high school students. The tool helps to determine the strength of connections students have with neighbors, the school, their family and peer groups and determines services and support needed to increase the probability of the students’ success at school. The assessment tool has been used with more than 100,000 students in nearly 1,500 schools around the nation and has been translated into five languages for use in other countries.

Bowen has worked extensively with all branches of the U.S. military across a range of mental health and social services issues. He consults regularly with military policymakers, researchers and practitioners. His work includes a 1999 landmark study on community life in the Air Force, which examined how formal and informal support plays a role in achieving work and family balance. He was co-editor of a book published in 2015 that focused on how military families across a range of countries deal with war, balancing mission demands with family demands, and the role support services play in helping families succeed.

“I am confident that we can continue to find solutions to the challenges of poverty, mental illness, violence and substance abuse and prepare social workers to make a difference, not only in our state but around the nation and the world,” Bowen said.

The school’s master’s program was ranked seventh in the country this year by U.S. News & World Report.

Active in many professional associations, Bowen is a fellow in the National Council on Family Relations; he has also served as the organization’s president. He is a fellow in the Society for Social Work and Research, and he was identified as one of 40 “high impact” social work scholars in a recent study published in the journal Research on Social Work Practice. Since 2004, Bowen has received the Dean’s Recognition of Teaching Excellence Award six times. This award recognizes faculty members whose student teaching evaluation scores consistently remain among the highest of the faculty. He is a member of the distinguished Research Council for America’s Promise.

In 2016, he was honored with three awards in the School of Social Work: Excellence in Doctoral Student Mentoring Award, based on nominations from fellow faculty members and students; the Distinguished Alumni Award; and the Dean’s Recognition Award for Outstanding Leadership, Impact and Contribution to the Mission of Teaching, Research and Service.

Bowen earned his doctorate in family relations and child development from UNC-Greensboro’s School of Human Environmental Sciences, his master’s in social work from Carolina and a bachelor of science degree in sociology and social work from UNC-Greensboro.

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