Careers can lead people all over the world, but sometimes, they can bring you right back to where you started.

Connie Bowler has been named director of the nursing program at Kent State’s Ashtabula campus. As a former graduate of the Ashtabula campus’ nursing program, Bowler said returning to the campus in her new position felt like coming home.

“I always felt tied to the campus,” she said. “This is something I always aspired to do.”

Bowler gained her associate degree in nursing at the regional campus, but she went on to receive her bachelor’s from Ursuline College. Later, she earned a master’s in nursing from the University of Missouri at Columbia.

Bowler has extensive experience in the health field. She previously worked as the wellness director in the Perry School System. She has also worked as a clinical instructor for the Cleveland Clinic and an educational coordinator at Ashtabula County Medical Center.

“Connie is well-known and respected in the local nursing community,” said Susan Stocker, Kent State at Ashtabula dean. “It’s an added bonus that she is actually a graduate of our program.”

Stocker said that the director of nursing is a critical job, as nursing is the campus’s most well known program. Last year, the campus built the new $15 million Robert S. Morrison Health and Science Building, equipped with technology to support the program’s continuing growth.

Bowler said her knowledge of the area and the campus would be her greatest asset as she begins her new position.

“I understand the rigor of the program,” she said. “Because I’ve been both a traditional and non-traditional student, I better understand the needs of our students.”

Although she is just beginning to settle in, Bowler said the transition into the job has been wonderful. And she credited that to both Ashtabula students and faculty.

“They are so welcoming here,” Bowler said. “You just feel that right away. That’s a place the I want to be.”

Contact Alison Ritchie at [email protected].