Scott Cowen

Background

Son of Helen Cowen and Stanley Cowen, Scott Cowen finished his secondary education at Metuchen High School, where he was class president for his first three years and then president of the student council. Upon graduation in 1964 he was cited as "the student who had done the most" for Metuchen High. Cowen was recruited by Lou Holtz to play football for the University of Connecticut, where later-legendary Holtz was briefly serving as an assistant coach. After receiving his bachelor of science degree from UConn in 1968, Cowen entered the United States Army Infantry Officer Candidate School and served for three years as an infantry officer, including a tour in the Middle East. On discharge he enrolled in George Washington University, where he received his master of business administration (MBA) in finance and doctor of business administration (DBA) in finance and management. After a brief stint as an instructor at Bucknell University, he began a 23-year career starting as an assistant professor and finished as dean and Albert J. Weatherhead Professor of Management in the Weatherhead School of Management at Case Western Reserve University.

Cowen chairs the Posse Foundation’s New Orleans Advisory Board and is a director of Barnes & Noble, NACCO Industries, Parkwood Corporation, Forest City Enterprises, Newell Rubbermaid;, the University of Notre Dame, Case Western Reserve University, the New Orleans Museum of Art, and the Weatherhead and Marcus Foundations, respectively. He also serves as an overseer of TIAA-CREF and a senior advisor to the Boston Consulting Group. He is a former president of the Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business (AACSB) and former chair of the American Association of Universities.

President of Tulane

Prior to Hurricane Katrina in 2005, Cowen was known in higher education as a supporter of reform in the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) to bolster academics involving athletes and also to open Bowl Championship Series (BCS) eligibility to teams in conferences such as Conference USA (C-USA) to which Tulane belonged. Cowen supported efforts "to get rid of the BCS and go to a playoff system."

Hurricane Katrina

Hurricane Katrina and flood waters resulting from the levee's failures hit Tulane's uptown and downtown campuses shortly after the start of the 2005 fall semester. Cowen led Tulane through a rebuilding and remodeling program, during which the decision to merge and eliminate Newcomb College's quasi-selfstanding character wholly into Tulane was criticized, as was also the decision to reduce the School of Engineering and merge its remaining departments with the other science departments.

Cowen was critical of the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) and the State of Louisiana for their handling of Katrina recovery. In the plans to reconstruct New Orleans' Charity Hospital, Cowen's defended the need for Tulane Medical Center's representation on Charity's board, which resulted in the Louisiana State University System to depart from earlier plans to monopolize the board appointments and instead to seek accommodation with Tulane, Xavier University of Louisiana, and three other institutions in Orleans Parish (Dillard University, Southern University at New Orleans, and Delgado Community College).

Cowen was appointed to the city’s Bring New Orleans Back Commission and charged with leading a committee to reform and rebuild the city’s failing public school system. Cowen also is a co-founder of the Fleur-de-lis Ambassadors program, a group of New Orleans civic leaders dedicated to spreading the message nationwide that post-Katrina New Orleans is an economically viable, livable city with a recovery plan in progress.

Continuing challenges

In 2009 Cowen represented Louisiana's 10 private colleges and universities when he testified in the Louisiana legislature against a bill that provided for concealed weapons on campuses.

In 2010, both before and after the Deepwater Horizon oil spill disaster in the Gulf of Mexico, Cowen testified, successfully, in the Commerce Committee of the Louisiana senate, against a bill by state senator Robert Adley to terminate funding for the Tulane University Environmental Law Clinic.

Also in 2010 Cowen increased his attention to Tulane's athletics program, including a joint announcement with athletics director Rick Dickson that Tulane would build a new practice facility for basketball and volleyball and recognition that Tulane "must get better" in all its athletics programs and especially men's basketball and football. The message announced that Tulane in academic year 2011-2012 would be back up to the 16 athletics teams fielded prior to Katrina.

Awards and honors

Cowen was one of four US recipients of the Carnegie Corporation Academic Leadership Awards in 2009. Cowen dedicated the $500,000 award to Tulane's community-related activities, including the Cowen Institute for Public Education Initiatives, the Center for Public Service that coordinates the university's service-learning requirements, and social entrepreneurship professorships. The Carnegie Corporation cited Cowen's leadership in New Orleans' recovery from Hurricane Katrina. In 2009, TIME Magazine named Cowen one of the nation’s top "10 Best College Presidents". The following year, Cowen was appointed by President Barack Obama to the White House Council for Community Solutions, which advised the President on ways to reconnect young people who are neither working nor in school. Cowen is also a member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences.

Recipient of the Times-Picayune Loving Cup for 2010, Cowen holds honorary doctorates from the University of Notre Dame, Brown, Case Western, George Mason, and Yeshiva universities as well as several other universities.

Personal life

Cowen and his wife Marjorie Feldman Cowen still reside in New Orleans. They have four grown children and five grandchildren.

Scott and Marjorie Cowen were credited by Mary Matalin for swaying her to relocate to New Orleans. They convinced Matalin that her husband James Carville was right about the merits of moving their family to New Orleans. After having breakfast with the Cowens, Matalin went shopping for a house.