Appalachian Today | Alumni Association

Kirsten Bowden ’01 ’05

Since earning her bachelor’s degree in communication, Kirsten Bowden ’01 ’05 has had a successful career: first handling public relations for Newton-Conover City Schools, then corporate communications for Duke Energy in Charlotte. Now she is finishing up her first year of law school at Howard University in Washington, D.C.

Once she completes law school, Bowden hopes to tie together her three academic degrees and become a lobbyist, returning home to North Carolina to work on economic development, energy or education issues.

Whenever she’s under pressure – and law students have plenty – Bowden says she mentally goes back to any of the Southern Conference track meets she competed in or the tough exams she took at Appalachian State University. “When I get nervous or anxious, I just think of all the time and preparation I put into my goal. And then, I reap the benefits of all that effort,” says Bowden, a former triple jumper on the track and field team.

Bowden credits Appalachian athletics with teaching her many valuable skills for the workplace, such as time management, balance, the value of hard work and how to get along well with others.

“Athletics prepares you for life,” she says. “It may vary from sport to sport, but as student-athletes we were on a detailed schedule between classes, practice and extracurricular activities. It was all quite beneficial.”

“I’m truly grateful to Appalachian,” Bowden continues. “I was attracted to the school because of Coach John Weaver. After being recruited by several schools inside and outside North Carolina, I wanted a coach who understood my academic success was as important as my athletic success. And when I was on the team, he always supported our involvement in other campus activities as well.”

As a student, Bowden stayed involved in campus life as an orientation leader, student ambassador, peer mentor, and member of Alpha Kappa Alpha sorority and the Black Student Association advisory board. She attended Appalachian on a partial athletic scholarship and partial academic scholarship.

Bowden hasn’t strayed far from her alma mater. While working at Newton-Conover City Schools, she completed a master of public administration degree at Appalachian through its distance education courses at Hickory Metro Higher Education Center.

She now gives back to the university by serving on its 15-member Board of Visitors. The board advises and assists the university’s trustees and Chancellor Kenneth E. Peacock on public policy matters that impact Appalachian.