Barbara T. Bowman

Barbara Bowman is a Professor at the Erikson Institute and Chief Officer of Early Childhood Education for the Chicago Public Schools.  She is one of the founders and a past President of the Erikson Institute.  She has over 50 publications, including articles, book chapters, and edited volumes.  Ms. Bowman is co-director and investigator on projects in the Erikson Center for the Study of Young Children: Race, Class, and Culture.  Recently, she was co-investigator on a survey of teaching standards addressing diversity in early childhood teacher education programs. She is a frequent speaker and her specialty areas are early education, cultural diversity, and education of at-risk children.

Barbara Bowman has served on numerous professional boards, including the Family Resource Coalition and the National Association for the Education of Young Children, of which she was President (1980-82). She chaired the Committee on Early Childhood Pedagogy for the National Research Council.  She is on the boards of the Great Books Foundation, the Chicago Library Foundation, and Roosevelt University.

Barbara Bowman attended Sarah Lawrence College and the University of Chicago, where she received a MA degree in 1952. She holds honorary degrees from Bank Street College, Roosevelt University, Dominican University, Governors State University and Wheelock College.