Kristine L. Bowman

Professor of Law

Law College Building
648 N. Shaw Lane Rm 368
East Lansing, MI 48824-1300
klbowman@law.msu.edu

Kristine Bowman is a jointly appointed as a Professor of Law and Professor of Education Policy at Michigan State University, where she has taught since 2007. She is also Associate Dean for Academic and Student Affairs in the College of Education where she provides strategic leadership for curriculum, advising, and accreditation.

From 2015-2018 Bowman was Vice/Associate Dean of Academic Affairs at MSU-Law, where she oversaw the curriculum of roughly 300 classes delivered by 50 full-time and 60 adjunct instructors to 700-800 students annually; led the College’s efforts to become academically integrated with MSU; and created and implemented new policies and programs on topics ranging from cross-listing select law courses, to faculty research and instructional support, to analyzing data related to bar exam success; to rethinking the College’s programming and presence in Detroit. In 2018 she was Senior Advisor to the Provost at MSU and in 2019 she was Visiting Professor of Political Science and Law at the University of Queensland.

Bowman is a leading education law scholar with expertise in free speech, racial/ethnic equity, and governance in in the K-12 and higher education contexts. She has published widely in prominent law reviews, journals for multi-disciplinary audiences, and edited volumes. In addition to presenting regularly throughout the country, Bowman has taught or lectured in nine countries.

Prior to teaching, Bowman practiced at Franczek Sullivan, P.C. (now Franczek Radelet), in Chicago, where she represented school districts, and clerked on the United States Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit. During law school she worked at the United States Department of Education, Office for Civil Rights. In 2001, Bowman graduated magna cum laude from the Duke University Law School, having served as both the Articles Editor of the Duke Law Journal and the Associate Executive Editor of the Duke Journal of Gender Law and Policy. Bowman also holds a Ph.D. in Political Science from the University of Queensland; an M.A. in Humanities and Graduate Certificate in Women’s Studies from Duke University; and a B.A. summa cum laude, Phi Beta Kappa, from Drake University.


Ph.D. University of Queensland
J.D. magna cum laude with high honors 2001, Duke University
M.A. 2001, Duke University
B.A. summa cum laude 1998, Drake University