William G. Bowen and the Challenges of American Higher Education

I argue in my new biography of William G. Bowen that he was the most consequential leader in American higher education in the late twentieth and early twenty-first centuries. My objective here is to lay out the case for this assertion by examining Bowen's presidency of Princeton, his presidency of the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, the many books he authored, his impact on public policy, and his overall stature among educators and those beyond the academy. Bowen, an economist, joined the Princeton faculty in 1958 after earning his PhD from the university. He was tenured in 1961 and made a full professor in 1965. In 1967, he became the first full-time provost of the university. In 1972, he became president, a position he held until January 1988.