VPAA manages to stay in loop after scenery change

Shadow boxing After more than 20 years in Morgan Hall, the vice president of academic affairs office has moved to the Bradbury Thompson Alumni Center. Robin Bowen, VPAA, said she enjoys the space but misses being in the heart of the academic environment.

Victoria Garcia

Robin Bowen has some new stretching room.

Washburn University’s new vice president of academic affairs recently made the move to a new location: the second floor of Bradbury Thompson Center.

With the sunlight pouring into her freshly painted and quite spacious office, Bowen isn’t doing much complaining.

“It’s much nicer here in that people have a lot more space,” said Bowen. “And I have an absolutely beautiful view out my window.”

For more than 20 years the VPAA office has been located in Room 262 of Morgan Hall. The decision to relocate was made prior to Bowen’s arrival at Washburn.

Lack of space was one of the leading reasons why.

Previously, the second floor area in Bradbury Thompson housed the operations of the Washburn Endowment Association. Last spring break, when the association relocated to MacVicar Avenue and 17th Street, the space in Bradbury Thompson became vacant and arrangements were made to move the VPAA, the vice president of administration treasury and all of their immediate staff.

Although she is no longer in the same building as President Jerry Farley, Bowen said her time spent with him hasn’t decreased.

“But we have started handling more information through e-mails and phone calls,” said Bowen.

In charge of “all things academic,” Bowen works closely with the campus deans and department chairs. Furthermore, she oversees Mabee Library, KTWU, the Mulvane Art Museum and the Washburn Transformational Experience.

“In this job, I am really lucky,” said Bowen. “The people I work with are all wonderful and extremely talented.”

When asked about the disadvantages in regard to her new office placement, Bowen expressed that she really missed the day-to-day traffic of Morgan Hall.

“People could stop by my office to talk, and even in just walking down the hall there were always a number of opportunities to interact with students and staff,” said Bowen. “Since I’m now located elsewhere, those types of instances don’t arise as often and that’s something I’ll have to get used to.”