October 14, 2005                                                               

SMC Names Bowles VP for Academic Affairs

SPARTANBURG, S.C. – Spartanburg Methodist College announced that Anita K. Bowles, Ph.D. will become the new Vice President for Academic Affairs.

Bowles has worked extensively with several institutions of higher learning in South Carolina, most recently at North Greenville College, where she has been Chief Academic Officer. Bowles also served as Director of Institutional Effectiveness and Academic Planning at the University of South Carolina Beaufort; Associate Dean for Academic and Student Affairs and Director of the Extended Graduate Campus at the University of South Carolina Union; Associate Dean at North Greenville College; and Director of the Technical Scholars Program at Spartanburg Technical College.

While at USC Beaufort, Bowles oversaw institutional research, which involved collection of information for SACS (Southern Association of Colleges and Schools) and CHE (S.C. Commission on Higher Education). She also assisted the Executive Vice Chancellor with issues related to the campus’ transition to a baccalaureate degree granting institution. She also coordinated the development of articulation agreements with various two-year institutions.

When Bowles assumes her new post on November 1, she will return to familiar surroundings, having previously served on the SMC staff in the 1990s as Director of Special Programs and New College, where she managed the adult evening and Saturday program. While at SMC, Bowles was working on her doctoral dissertation, which examined teaching style preferences of traditional and non-traditional students at SMC.

Bowles received a Ph.D. in Educational Administration with an emphasis in Higher Education Administration and a Master of Education Degree from the University of South Carolina in Columbia. She also received a Bachelor of Arts Degree, Cum Laude, from Limestone College; and an Associate in Arts Degree, Magna Cum Laude, from North Greenville College.

Bowles served on numerous boards, including the Spartanburg County District Five Board of Trustees, the Executive Board for South Carolina Women in Higher Education, the Alumni Board for Limestone College, and the Advisory Board for the Associate in Science Degree Program at Technical College of the Lowcountry. She is a past member of the South Carolina Higher Education Assessment Network and was a graduate in the first class of Leadership Union. Bowles was also nominated for the 1987 South Carolina Technical Educator of the Year in the Staff Division, a recipient of the Alumni Award for Service to Education from Limestone College, and was named to Outstanding Young Women in America in 1981 and 1988. She is a member of Taylors First Baptist Church, where she is actively involved in the Singles Ministry and Sanctuary Choir.

Bowles fills the vacancy of Dr. Thomas A. Wilkerson, who assumed the presidency of Bainbridge College in Bainbridge, Ga. Dr. Mark Gibbs has been serving as interim Vice President for Academic Affairs.