John Bowen on creating community and sculpting your interests into a career you love

What John Bowen remembers most about attending the University of Michigan School of Information is the people. There were friends who changed his life and professors who allowed him to reimagine what his future could look like. 

“There were so many different people with so many different experiences and interests at UMSI,” he says. “I learned a lot from the people I ended up going to class with.”

A 2002 Master of Science in Information graduate, Bowen had always loved libraries growing up, spending most of his time reading about history and geography. 

Today, it’s no surprise that Bowen is the director of archives at Cleveland Clinic, where he enjoys overseeing the archives and providing guidance on records management. He credits courses he took at UMSI for preparing him for a successful career. 

Read about Bowen’s decades-long career and his advice for students in his alumni snapshot here.