Alumni Hall of Fame inducts Carol Bowman

Bowman served in multiple capacities at the campus, the university and in the community.  In 2004 she became the Director of the Larry R. Yoder Prairie Learning Laboratory and the campus science labs. During her time at Ohio State Marion, she received the Ohio State Marion Outstanding Staff Award in 2000 and 2009.  She also served on many campus committees including Campus Strategic Planning, Diversity, several times on the Campus Campaign and United Way Campaign, and annual Earth Day events on campus. 

The crowning point of her long and industrious career, explained Bowman, was the opportunity to help in a small way design and set up the new Science & Engineering Building before retiring.  

“It will always be a part of me as will the wonderful memories of the campus. Ohio State Marion so profoundly changed my life,” she said.  

Bowman was a tireless advocate for women and women’s issues while at Ohio State.  She was appointed by former Ohio State President William Kirwan as a member of the first Ohio State Women’s Council in which she served for three years. During that time, she was the chair of the work life committee and was instrumental in getting paternity leave for Ohio State fathers when they had a birth of a child and other work life issues. While on the Women’s Council she served on the committee to hire new Ohio State President Karen Holbrook. 

In 1991 and 1992, Bowman received Critical Difference Scholarships (CDW) as a student. Since that time, she has been very active in that program. In 1993 her story was featured in a development film and brochures for CDW. She has done many speaking engagements to alumni and various donors on behalf of CDW. Once traveling to Florida to speak to a women’s Ohio State alumni group on behalf of CDW. 

In 2001 she was the Emcee for the Annual Critical Difference for Women Luncheon and 2006 was the Chair of the Critical Difference for Women 20th Anniversary Celebration and oversaw all the details and was the emcee for that event. 

In 2001 she was photographed and featured in the Coca Cola Foundation Annual Report as a former CDW scholarship recipient and because of her work with CDW.  The Coca Cola Foundations are a major supporter of CDW Scholarships. She was also featured with the President of Longaberger in the CNN Pinnacle Program for their financial support of CDW.

According to Dr. Peggy Steffel, who nominated Bowman for the Ohio State Marion Alumni Hall of Fame, after hearing Bowman speak at a CDW luncheon in 1994, the Coca Cola Foundations decided to double their original donation of $250,00 to $500,000. Over the years and continuing today they have become the largest corporate donor to the CDW Scholarship fund at Ohio State. 

Bowman was also interviewed for the Voices of Women project at The Ohio State University. This was an oral history interview of Ohio State women who have make a significant contribution to furthering women at Ohio State. 

In 1995, Bowman was appointed as a Steering Committee Member for the National Council of Ohio State Women.

As a natural progression to her role as director of science labs at Ohio State Marion, Bowman joined the National Association of Scientific Managers (NAOSMM) in 1999 to further her training for her job. She started serving immediately on committees and in 2008 was elected to the Board of Directors as the secretary. In 2010 she was elected to a 2-year term as the President of the Board. During her term as president, she was contacted by the U.S. Labor Department to write a job description for a lab manager because that profession wasn’t previously represented in their book of jobs. As president she created several partnerships for NAOSMM with lab supply companies to give discounts to member institutions. Lab Manager Magazine agreed to give all members a free subscription, advertise the annual conference. 

After serving as president, she became the Chair of the Site Selection Committee. While on that committee for 4 years, she travelled across the U.S. doing hotel and city site visits, negotiating hotel contracts for the NAOSMM Annual Conferences. The past 4 years she was the Chair of the Sponsorship Committee where she contacted lab supply companies to sponsor events at the annual conference — during that time she doubled the number of sponsorships. Bowman received the highest award from NAOSMM in 2016 as the Manager of the Year. She had to be nominated by a fellow lab manager and received support letters from Ohio State Marion Dean and Director Greg Rose, her co-workers, several lab supply sales representatives, and many members of NAOSMM. In 2014 and 2019 also he received service awards from NAOSMM.

While serving as director of labs at Ohio State Marion, she discovered a display of mammoth bones and pictures lingering in an old display case covered in dust and not being used at all. The large femur was in bad shape. She contacted the Ohio History Connection, who she discovered the bones were on loan from, and had them restore the femur. In her shared role of designing the Science and Engineering Building with faculty, she advocated for a built-in display case in the lobby to feature the mammoth display. Many student tour groups have visited the building and display case since opening in 2017. Bowman has taken the mammoth bones and materials to several community events and does presentations on the mammoth which was excavated at the old city landfill in 1976. Even after retirement she continues taking part in these type of community events.

Not only was Bowman an engaged advocate for women’s issues, during the time when she was charged with oversight of the Larry R. Yoder Prairie Learning Laboratory, she became highly involved in the conservation and advocacy through her involvement with the annual Ohio Prairie Conference.  She also represented Ohio State on the Board of the Marion County Parks District as the vice president from 2012 to 2019. 

Bowman began participating in Friends of the Prairie Parks in 2004.  Bowman’s work supported the Marion County Parks District in their goal to purchase an abandoned railroad to create a hiking/biking trail on the poorer west side of Marion. In 2013, she was appointed to the Board of the Marion County Parks District and served as secretary and/or vice president until the end of 2019. 

During her time on the board , the group was successful in purchasing the 12 miles of railroad bed and completely paving it to create the Tall Grass Prairie Trail, at the Trail Head built a shelter house, covered picnic area, parking lot and playground, picnic shelter and parking lot 9 miles into the trail, purchased Marion Community Foundation Lake--a 42 acre lake adjacent to the trail for canoeing and fishing where a dock, parking lot and covered shelter were built, and an observation platform was built from the trail overlooking the lake, and many eagle scout projects to build picnic tables, benches and other display boards along the trail. Also, while on the board two other park district properties were improved. The district developed the Terradise Preserve to include a canoe launch along the river, covered picnic area, 2 parking lots and trails through the woods. Then some improvements were made to the Watkins Preserve near Prospect to create a primitive camping space for local Boy Scouts and others to walk in the woods and a parking lot.

Bowman also invested a great deal of her time as volunteer coordinator for Ohio State Marion staff taking part in Life Care Alliance’s Meals on Wheels program in the Marion area. Over the years, she trained all new Ohio State Marion faculty/staff participants who volunteered for this initiative. Bowman also personally delivered meals, substituting for others when needed. 

Because of her tireless efforts in the community, Bowman was nominated as a “community hero” to become a torch runner during the 1996 summer Olympics as the torch traveled the country on the way to Atlanta.  While taking part in the run, she was interviewed for the Columbus nightly news and was chosen as the “Runner of the Day.” Parts of the interview were carried by news outlets across the country. 

Throughout her storied career, Bowman dedicated herself to dozens of non-profit agencies and causes that she championed because of her passion for the mission and for The Ohio State University.  Her 2023 induction into The Ohio State University at Marion Alumni Hall of Fame serves as a recognition of a lifetime of accomplishments and service as a Buckeye.

The Ohio State Marion Alumni Hall of Fame was established in 2020. Previous inductees include Dr. Heidi Ries, Roger George, and Larry Cline, Gary Sims, Dr. Russell H. Tuttle, Dr. Andrew M. Vick, and Dr. Deidre Radosevich.