RRMA’s Bowie takes leadership training to Next Level

Michael Bowie, director of College of Education recruitment, retention and multicultural affairs, recently completed UF’s challenging Next Level Leadership Program, a yearlong leadership training program for rising university administrators and faculty members in leadership positions.

He was one of 10 UF employees to complete the 2008-09 version of Next Level Leadership, an annual program coordinated by the training and organizational development unit of UF Human Resources.

Selected applicants (assistant director and above) participate in a series of seminars and assessments and network with key university leaders. Team members focus both on an individualized action plan and on a team project to benefit UF in the future.

Bowie and his team were treated to high-level speakers such as UF President Bernie Machen, Provost and Senior Vice President Joseph Glover, General Counsel Jamie Lewis Keith, Athletic Director Jeremy Foley, Vice President for Human Resources Paula Fussell, and Chief Finance Officer Matthew Fajack.

Bowie already has an impressive resume of leadership positions. Besides overseeing the college’s student-diversity programs, he also is executive director of the statewide Florida Fund for Minority Teachers, which is based at UF.

He is president of the Alachua County branch of the NAACP and in 2003 became the youngest president ever elected by the National Pan-Hellenic Council. He also has headed Black AIDS Services and Education, Inc., and the Association of Black Faculty and Staff at the University of Florida.

Bowie holds a bachelor’s degree in biology from Morgan State University, a master’s in veterinary science from Pennsylvania State and a Ph.D. in veterinary medical sciences from UF. For years, he was the only African-American faculty member at UF’s College of Veterinary Medicine.