Prof. of the week: Matthew Bowen

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Matthew Bowen started teaching at the University this semester with Introduction to Child Psychology. At first, Bowen was wary of teaching such a large lecture class at the University since he said he prefers more intimate class sizes. But the opportunity of teaching at the University was a major incentive.

Before he came to Charlottesville, Bowen went to graduate school at the University of California, Berkeley, and then he started his own private practice for child and adult neuropsychology.

Bowen's academic and professional careers not only include a stint as a member of the neurosurgery department's faculty at Stanford University's Medical School, but he also spent time as a director of a neuro-rehabilitation center for brain-injured children.

Bowen came to Charlottesville to take care of his mother, a well-known southern novelist, in 2000. His mother was the literary protégé of William Faulkner, the University's first Writer-in-Residence. Their correspondences are archived in the Albert and Shirley Small Special Collections Library.

Bowen did not simply relax when he moved to Charlottesville; he began to teach a Child Psychology course at the local community college. He also began another clinical practice, this time mainly serving combat veterans. He also began working on a documentary film about veterans from World War II to the present. Bowen taught a course at James Madison University called Combat Experience, based on the interviews he collected for his film.

After Bowen's mother died in 2004, he wrote a play called, "Me Too, Mr. Faulkner," which is about her relationship with Faulkner.

Along with these academic and artistic commitments, Bowen also works as a clinical psychologist. Soldiers contact him for evaluations through the Wounded Warrior Project.

-compiled by Fiza Hashmi