The director of Georgetown’s music program is resigning in the middle of an expansion effort. Thomas A. Caestecker Chair of Music Jose Bowen, who has been leading the drive since 1999, will join the staff of Miami University in Ohio this summer as the Dean of the School of Fine Arts.
In addition to building the Music Department, Bowen taught Jazz History, Jazz Improvisation, and Introduction to Culture and Politics. He said his experience at Georgetown has been a positive one. “It is a wonderful place with very fine students. People here are unusually dedicated-they really believe in the Georgetown mission,” he said.
Bowen is confident about the future of the Program of Performing Arts at Georgetown, which he helped initiate. “A lot has happened in five years, so I am proud of where we are and where we are going.”
Bowen said his decision to resign was not an easy one. “It is hard to leave a place you have invested so much energy into,” he said. He is, however, optimistic about his new post at Miami of Ohio. “Miami also has a bigger program. There are more opportunities and the level of artistic activity is larger,” he said.
“Jose is an inspiring leader and a joyous teacher, and he will be missed,” said Director of Theater Maya Roth, “He leaves Georgetown in a far better place than when he arrived.”
Of his fondest memories of Georgetown, Bowen cited the Dave Brubeck concert, which took place at D.A.R Constitution Hall during President John DeGioia’s inauguration, and a collaboration with artist-in-residence Bobby McFerrin
Bowen founded the Center for the History and Analysis of Recorded Music at University of Southampton, England. He was nominated for a Pulitzer Prize in 1985 for his work Symphony no.1.
