Bowman, champion for equity, honored
State research library renamed for educator and New York regent
Even as a college student, Joseph Bowman was willing to push boundaries so that all people could get a quality education.
Bowman was known, by the end of his life, as the man leading the charge to digitize libraries to improve access for underserved communities. For that work, the New York State Library’s Research Library has been renamed in his honor.
Bowman’s legacy began in 1969, long before the internet made digitization possible.
That year, Bowman, 18, and other University at Albany students chained the doors to the administrative building in a “peaceful yet provocative” protest, as the college officially described it during a 40thanniversary celebration.
Black Student Alliance students had formally asked for an African American history course that could be taken by all students, not just upperclassmen who had taken required prerequisites. There had been no action for two months, so in January 1969, they met with university President
Evan Revere Collins. He quickly realized administrators had never submitted the request.
“The students were upset. I believe they were justifiably upset. This looked to them like a breach of faith, and it was easy for this group of students to feel that the breach of faith was deliberate,” Collins told the University Senate.
Telling the students that their request hadn’t gone through the proper channels did not help.
They chained his doors shut the next Monday and a hundred students rallied outside.
“We were nervous, probably scared, but determined to get the quality education that all students deserved,” Bowman said later.
Collins took their side and decided the college needed much more than one course. The college ended up creating the Department of Afro-american Studies and expanded the Educational Opportunity Pro
gram to help 300 disadvantaged students earn a degree, up from 134 students the year before.
When the New York State Library’s Research Library was renamed after him, his biography briefly mentioned that early work.
“He was instrumental in creating the African American Studies Department at the University at Albany during his undergraduate tenure, where he earned a bachelor’s degree as well as a master’s in Library Science and Secondary Education,” the biography said.
It was a glimpse of what he would do later in life, officials said.
“Dr. Bowman impacted the lives and futures of countless students, organizations, and communities in New York state through his work as an educator and regent,” Commissioner Betty Rosa said.
For the rest of his life, he continued to work for equity in education.
By the 1980s he was thinking about how to harness the computer age for students who didn’t have access to huge libraries or the most advanced materials.
He earned a master’s in educational technology in 1983, a master’s in computers and education in 1984 and a doctorate in communications and technology in education in 1991 as he researched how to make a difference with new technology.
He is credited with bringing free public internet to libraries and getting many Black, Indigenous, Hispanic and poor students into STEM fields through free college programs while in secondary school.
He was the director of the Science Technology Entry Program, which led to colleges tutoring underrepresented students to prepare them for college and increase their participation in STEM fields. Colleges also provided advanced coursework and research opportunities — all for free to the student.
He was also a member of the Board of Regents for nine years. He died in 2013 at age 62 after a long illness.
“Regent Bowman devoted himself to championing equitable access to educational technology and ensuring all young people and adults have the tools and skills needed for success,” said Board of Regents Chancellor Lester W. Young Jr. in a statement before the library renaming.
“His work ensured that students of color and those who are economically disadvantaged are included in the vision for how technology can be used to transform teaching and learning.”