Julie A. Furst-Bowe
Julie A. Furst-Bowe, EdD, was appointed the eighth Chancellor of SIUE on July 2, 2012. She previously served from 2005-2012 as Provost and Vice Chancellor for Academic and Student Affairs at the University of Wisconsin-Stout, the first and only university to receive the Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award.
As the eighth chancellor at SIUE, Julie Furst-Bowe instituted a new strategic plan that included a focus on increasing online courses and programs, international partnerships and international student enrollment.
In academic affairs, a new online winter session debuted in December 2014 and several new academic programs were initiated.
In 2015, U.S. News & World Report listed SIUE as one of only five public institutions to be an “Up and Coming” Midwest regional university.
Furst-Bowe brought an added emphasis on diversity including the opening of the Multicultural Center in December 2014 and greatly enhanced sustainability initiatives.
In her administrative roles in Illinois and Wisconsin, Furst-Bowe was involved in the design and construction of several education facilities, including new science complexes at both SIUE and UW-Stout, a new Engineering facility at SIUE, and a new Technology Center, Millennium Hall, at UW-Stout. She also advanced sustainability initiatives, in and outside of the classroom at both institutions.
Furst-Bowe is recognized nationally and internationally for her expertise in systems thinking in higher education and has authored several articles and edited a book on this topic, "Quality and Performance Excellence in Higher Education." In 2012, she edited a book on advancing STEM education and serves as editor of the "International Journal of Excellence in Education." For more than a decade, she served as a quality improvement consultant for numerous colleges and universities across the United States. She served as a Fulbright Scholar working with a new university in Azerbaijan through the Fulbright program. Over the past decade, she shared her experience with educators in 16 countries throughout North America, Europe, Asia and the Middle East. She also worked to expand globalization and increase the number of study abroad programs, international partnerships and international students at both SIUE and UW-Stout.
Furst-Bowe was appointed by the U.S. Secretary of Commerce to serve on the Board of Overseers for the Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award, an award that provides the highest level of national recognition for performance excellence that a U.S. organization can achieve. She was also a founding board member of the National Consortium for Continuous Improvement in Higher Education and serves as higher education chair for the American Society for Quality. She worked with a team of ASQ leaders to establish an annual nationwide conference for advancing STEM education. Furst-Bowe has served as a peer reviewer for the Higher Learning Commission for more than a decade and is a former senior examiner for the Baldrige Performance Excellence Program. She is active in the American Association of State Colleges and Universities and is a member of the International Association of University Presidents.
During her tenure at SIUE, Furst-Bowe served on a variety of boards, including as a member of St. Louis Civic Progress, the executive committee of the Leadership Council of Southwestern Illinois, Innovate St. Louis, and the Boards of Directors of the Southern Illinois Collegiate Common Market, Hospital Sisters Health System, University Park – SIUE, and Girl Scouts of Southern Illinois. Furst-Bowe earned her doctorate in Education from the University of Minnesota. Her dissertation received the Award of Excellence for Outstanding Research from the International Society for Performance Improvement. She has received numerous awards, including the Outstanding Achievement Award from Wisconsin Women in Higher Education Leadership in 2011.
Furst-Bowe left SIUE in August 2015 to become the Vice President of Instruction at Chippewa Valley Technical College.
