By Grace Schroller, Class of 2026
On October 15, 2025, José Bowen, Ph.D., made a special visit to Doane University to share his expertise with students, faculty and staff. Bowen is a renowned speaker known for his insightful and engaging talks on artificial intelligence (AI), the future of work and the professional value of the liberal arts.
Bowen has spent over 40 years driving innovation in higher education at institutions like Stanford, Georgetown, University of South Hampton (UK), Miami University and Goucher College. He now leads Bowen Innovation Group, providing consulting and training in innovation, pedagogy, and diversity for universities and Fortune 500 companies. A Stanford alum with four degrees, Bowen is a prolific scholar and editor, a jazz pianist and composer whose work was Pulitzer-nominated, and a pioneer in educational technology and classroom design. He’s authored award-winning books on teaching, including the recent Teaching with AI (2024), and has delivered keynotes worldwide.
As someone whose future plans are in creative roles that are easily impacted by AI, I was inclined to go listen to Bowen. Throughout his keynote, he emphasized how AI actually makes us more creative and can change our thinking. Every job is going to change, causing us to reevaluate answers and ask better questions. Instead of working against it, Bowen encouraged attendees to create new possibilities and opportunities to work with it.
I was interested to learn that jobs you wouldn’t think use AI, are using it. Bowen's example of this was that 66% of physicians are using AI daily. Typical daily tasks like clinical documentation, analysis of medical images, reviewing electronic health records and summarizing patient data are done by the use of AI, making the physician's day- to-day tasks easier, allowing them to see more patients.
Additionally, Bowen introduced the concept of the three R's with AI and academia:
- Relationship: Maintaining strong human connections and collaboration alongside new AI tools
- Resilience: being able to be adaptable to challenges with AI assistance
- Reflection: Continuously thinking critically about how AI impacts learning, decision-making, and growth.
These principles help ensure AI is used thoughtfully and ethically, supporting rather than replacing human skills.
At the end of his presentation, Bowen took time to hear from attendees. Students in the audience shared their concerns about AI's influence on the current job search process, expressing how it felt impossible to rise to the top without being filtered out. Bowen took the opportunity to educate students further by sharing his professional insights on how AI can actually aid in the job search by conducting personal background checks, assisting with updating personal resumes, and even role-playing job interviews for practice.
Attending the presentation left me with a sense of relief and excitement about my future in relation to AI. As I begin pursuing my postgraduate goals and navigating the job application process, I recognize that developing a deep understanding of how to collaborate with AI technologies will be essential to my success and confidence. Looking ahead, I hope AI becomes a tool that individuals learn to thoughtfully engage and partner with, rather than simply utilize.
