Barbara T. Bowman
Co-Founder
Erikson Institute

Professor Barbara T. Bowman, co-founder and former president of Erikson Institute, is an internationally recognized authority on early childhood education, a lifelong proponent of higher education for those who teach and care for young children, and a pioneer in building knowledge and understanding of the issues of access and equity for minority children. Currently, she serves as chief officer of the Chicago Public Schools' Office of Early Childhood Education. For more than 50 years, through teaching, research, and advocacy, Bowman has been a powerful advocate for children and those who have made them their life's work.

Lyndon Johnson's War on Poverty and the creation of Head Start in 1965 were the catalysts for Bowman and colleagues Maria Piers and Lorraine Wallach, with the support of businessman and philanthropist Irving B. Harris, to establish Erikson Institute in 1966. Their purpose was to educate preschool teachers on how to work with at-risk children from low-income families in the Head Start program. In the '70s and '80s, Erikson grew to meet the increasing demand for educated caregivers as more mothers entered the workforce, and as society began to understand that all children, regardless of socioeconomic status, were in need of comprehensive early education.

Today, largely because of Bowman's leadership, Erikson's educational programs reach more than 2,500 students and, through them, hundreds of thousands of children. Erikson alumni include teachers, social workers, human service providers, and health practitioners, many in leadership positions around the United States and throughout the world, including England, Canada, India, Zimbabwe and New Zealand.

Born and raised on the south side of Chicago, Bowman received her B.A. in education from Sarah Lawrence College and began her teaching career at the University of Chicago Laboratory Schools' nursery school while earning her M.A. in education.

Bowman served on the White House Conference on Families, Early Childhood Panel of the National Board for Professional Teaching Standards, and Advisory Council on Early Childhood Education of the Illinois State Board of Education. She chaired the Committee on Early Childhood Pedagogy of the National Research Council, is past president of the National Association for the Education of Young Children (NAEYC), and acts as an adviser to the National Black Child Development Institute. Bowman currently serves on the boards of the High Scope Educational Foundation, National Board for Professional Teaching Standards, Great Books Foundation, and Business and Professional People for the Public Interest (BPI).

Bowman also writes for leading academic journals and reports, and edited the National Academy of Science's Eager to Learn: Educating Our Preschoolers. She served on the National Research Council's literacy committee that produced the report, Preventing Reading Difficulties in Young Children, and participated in a public schools–focused project that introduced developmentally appropriate practices and authentic assessment in the early grades.

She has received many honors including the Chicago League of Women Voters' Civic Contribution Award, the Mercedes Award, and honorary doctorates from Dominican University, Bank Street College, Governor's State University, Roosevelt University, and Wheelock College.