too. A first-generation college student,
she attended Salem State College after
graduating from high school in Lynn.
Her mother, a single parent raising
three children, worked as a seamstress
in a dress factory. There wasn't a lot of
money, but going to college was always
the goal in her family, she said.
secretarial school for two years and
then go to work. I was very concerned
about getting a good job," recalled
Cowan. "That's why I understand
the end game here for so many of
our students."
Salem State, and she loved it. After
became a teacher at Georgetown High
School. She later earned a master's
degree at Salem State, a Certificate of
Advanced Graduate Study at Boston
State College, and a doctorate at
UMass Amherst.
rings a bell with me. I understand that
college changes lives. It definitely
changed my life."
education, at the state and national
levels, Cowan has worked to keep it
affordable and accessible. "I have a
real commitment to public education in
Massachusetts. I'm a product of public
higher ed I wouldn't be where I am
today without Salem State.
build an institutional climate that is
welcoming and worthy of our students."
journey, Cowan has this advice for
current Middlesex students: "Take it
seriously. I think the opportunities
are here."
many competing priorities in their
lives home commitments, families,
children, jobs. It can be very difficult to
find space and time for your studies,"
she said.
are there in the end."