Nicholas Bowman, professor of higher education and student affairs at the University of Iowa, and Mary Louise Petersen Chair in Higher Education in the University of Iowa College of Education, has been selected as a 2023 American Educational Research Association (AERA) Fellow.
Bowman is among 24 exemplary scholars receiving the national honor this year. The AERA Fellows Program honors scholars for their exceptional contributions to, and excellence in, education research.
“AERA Fellows demonstrate the highest standards of excellence, and we are pleased to welcome this year’s class,” said AERA Executive Director Felice J. Levine. “The 2023 AERA Fellows join a prestigious group of exceptional scholars and deserve this honor because of their significant contributions to the field.”
Nominated by their peers, the 2023 fellows were selected by the AERA Fellows Committee and approved by the AERA Council, the association’s elected governing body. They will be inducted during a ceremony at the 2023 Annual Meeting in Chicago on April 14. They join a total of 714 AERA Fellows, including UI College of Education faculty emeriti Robert Brennen, Michael Kolen, David Lohman, and Robert Yager, as well as current UI College of Education Dean Daniel Clay, then a faculty member, all selected in 2008.
“This award is the product of many collaborations over the years, for which I’m very grateful and appreciative,” Bowman says. “Since coming to the University of Iowa, the vast majority of my publications have been co-authored with UI students and faculty, so our collective efforts are being recognized here.”
Bowman, who joined the UI Department of Educational Policy and Leadership Studies faculty in 2015, also serves as the director of the UI Center for Research on Undergraduate Education.
The center produces high-quality research intended to inform scholars, practitioners, policy makers, and the general public about the impact and value of higher education. Sixteen faculty and graduate students are currently affiliated with CRUE, which is a premier interdisciplinary center for conducting and disseminating high-quality research on the impact of college and the conditions for fostering student success.
"We are proud to have Dr. Bowman’s exceptional research contributions recognized with this national honor,” says Clay. “This recognition demonstrates what a profound impact Professor Bowman’s research has made on providing a better understanding of the value and impact of higher education on students’ lives.”
Bowman received a doctorate in psychology and education as well as two master’s degrees in education from the University of Michigan. He also graduated summa cum laude with a Bachelor of Arts in psychology from the University of California, Los Angeles.
His research uses a social psychological lens to explore key topics in higher education, including the following: student success; diversity and equity; admissions; rankings; and research methodology. Since 2009, he has written 100 journal articles, more than 25 book chapters, and nearly 150 peer-reviewed conference papers. His work has appeared in Review of Educational Research, Educational Researcher, American Educational Research Journal, Sociology of Education, Social Psychological and Personality Science, Science Advances, and other top outlets. He is also an author of How College Affects Students (Volume 3), which synthesized more than 1,800 studies on the impact of college.
Bowman’s awards and recognitions include being named the University of Iowa Scholar of the Year in 2018 as well as receiving numerous national awards. He is a member of the Iowa Academy of Education, AERA, Association for Education Finance and Policy, and Association for the Study of Higher Education. He also served as an international visiting scholar at Western Sydney University in 2019, and he is a frequent expert source for state and national media outlets.
