Early education expert and advocate Barbara Bowman was born on October 30, 1928, in Chicago, Illinois. She earned her B.A. from Sarah Lawrence in 1950 and went on to receive her M.A. from the University of Chicago in 1952.
For many years, Bowman taught at both the preschool and elementary levels, but in 1966 she helped found the Erikson Institute, where she pioneered the teaching of early childhood education and administration. She has become a sought-after expert and tirelessly pursues higher quality and more extensive training for early education practitioners. Taking her expertise abroad, she has consulted with universities in China and Iran. In addition, she has directed training programs for Head Start teachers, teachers in inner-city schools, caregivers of at-risk infants, and for a Child Development Associates program on Native American Reservations.
Bowman maintains a professorship at the Erikson Institute and is the chief officer of the Office of Early Childhood Education for the Chicago Public Schools. She has served on the boards of the Great Books Foundation, the National Board for Professional Teaching Standards, Roosevelt University and the Family Resource Coalition. She is the chairperson of the Committee of Early Childhood Pedagogy for the National Research Council, for which she served as a member of its Committee on the Prevention of Reading Difficulties in Young Children. She and her husband, Dr. James Bowman, are the parents of one daughter, Valerie Jarrett, and the grandparents of Laura Jarrett.
Bowman was interviewed by The HistoryMakers on May 20, 2002.
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