Dyersburg State president accepts new leadership role

The Messenger 01.23.08

Dr. Karen Bowyer, president of Dyersburg State Community College, was recently elected to the Southern Association of Community, Junior and Technical Colleges (SACJTC) board of directors during the group’s annual meeting in New Orleans.
This is the second time in a year that Dr. Bowyer’s colleagues have chosen her to represent their interests through an elite governing board.
Earlier in the year, she won election to the Executive Council of the Commission on Colleges of the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools.
SACJTC is both a support network and advocacy association for two-year colleges in the South. The board of directors is comprised of college presidents selected from the association’s 300-member institutions.
In addition to providing a unified voice to address regional education issues, the SACJTC also recognizes outstanding practices among member institutions, encourages professional development and idea exchanges and provides opportunities for professionals to submit ideas for publication in occasional papers and in a scholarly journal that the association is preparing to launch this spring.
Dr. Bowyer became interim president of Dyersburg State in November 1984 and was appointed president April 30, 1986. She was the first woman named as president of a state institution of higher education in Tennessee.
Dr. Bowyer holds a bachelor of arts degree in mathematics from Knox College, a master of arts degree in mathematics from Rutgers University and a doctor of philosophy degree in mathematics education from the University of Alabama. She also has received honorary doctorates from Knox College and from the Southern College of Optometry.
Dr. Bowyer has served as president of the YMCA board of directors and serves as vice president of education for the Dyersburg/Dyer County Area Chamber of Commerce, chair-elect of the Dyer County United Way board of directors and as a member of the West Tennessee United Way board of directors.
She is also a member of the Kiwanis and the Giving Friends clubs. She is an elected vestry member of St. Mary’s Episcopal Church and resides in Dyersburg.

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