Connor Bowman Named University Scholar at KU

2013 Jan 24

Twenty University of Kansas sophomores have been named to the 32nd class of the University Scholars Program, including Connor Bowman, of Lenexa.

Administrated by the University Honors Program, this competitive opportunity is for students selected on the basis of academic credentials, commitment to their education, intellectual promise and evaluations by instructors, advisers and other faculty members. Students in their second year at KU with a 3.75 cumulative grade-point average are invited to apply.

Each University Scholar receives a $250 scholarship per semester for five semesters, is assigned a faculty mentor and enrolls in an interdisciplinary seminar taught by a faculty member noted for a distinguished teaching record.

Bowman graduated from Shawnee Mission West High School and is a sophomore in pre-pharmacy with a minor in music at KU. He is the son of Laine and Brent Bowman.

The 2013 University Scholars are enrolled in a seminar on the topic "Searching for a Just Machine: Why Computing Came to Be and What It Will Become," taught by Perry Alexander, professor of electrical engineering and computer science and the director of the Information and Telecommunication Technology Center. The interdisciplinary course will explore three themes: where computing came from and why; the promises and limitations of what can be computed; and the social phenomenon surrounding computing's past and present. They will celebrate the beginning of the semester with a banquet Jan. 27 featuring keynote speaker Laura Martin, University Honors Program alumna and professor in preventive medicine & public health at the University of Kansas Medical Center.

The University Scholars Program was founded in the spring of 1982 by Judge Deanell Tacha, then vice chancellor for academic affairs, and the late Professor Francis Heller. The program now counts more than 660 alumni who have all gone on to great careers in varied fields.

Funds for the University Scholars Program are managed by KU Endowment, the independent, nonprofit organization serving as the official fundraising and fund-management organization for KU. Founded in 1891, KU Endowment was the first foundation of its kind at a U.S. public university. Additional support is provided by the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences and the Office of the Provost.