Zachary Bowman

Age: 19

College: Arts & Sciences ‘15 

Major(s): Political Science, Economics

Campus Activities: Resident assistant at O’Donnell Hall, president of the College Democrats, MUSG senator for the 

College of Arts & Sciences

Zachary Bowman was born to be in politics. Zach, a sophomore in the College of Arts & Sciences, recalls family gatherings from his childhood, where his uncle and grandfather used to argue about politics–even though they both identified themselves as Republicans. Hearing the political banter around the house, he couldn’t help but pick up the family pastime. “I started watching CNN and becoming very informed,” says Bowman. He wanted to be a part of his family’s conversations.

Bowman came to Marquette and not much has changed. He still loves politics, and he still wants to be a part of the conversation. In his year and a half at Marquette, Bowman ran for and won the positions of MUSG senator for the College of Arts & Sciences and president pro tempore of the Senate within MUSG, which acts as a liaison between the four standing committees of the Senate. As as student leader, he finds out what issues are important to the student body and tries to make a difference through legislation.

Among the issues the student government wants to improve and take to the administration are issues of student advising and campus space (both classroom size and residence hall size).“Some students are unhappy with the way they are being advised, saying that their advisors don’t really know how to help them,” Bowman says. “So we’re trying to iron that out with the administration. And with spacing, we’re just hoping they have a plan to move forward. ”

And as a leader in MUSG, he has even more responsibility to ensure student government is making a difference. The nuts and bolts of his job is to make sure that each committee is interacting with the others and that they bring all the information to the executive boards, he says. The big picture, however, is to make sure MUSG runs like a well-oiled machine.

Bowman’s love for politics doesn’t stop at MUSG, however. Zach is president of the Marquette chapter of College Democrats. Even after the election, Zach still has plenty of work for the club. “We’re going to be working with a lot of issue-advocacy, something different each month,” he says.

As a RA in O’Donnell, Bowman aims for a good relationship with his residents, whether it is helping them out and just hanging out with them playing video games.

“I would say that I’ve been fairly successful at being involved in Marquette life, so going forward, I want to keep looking at opportunities as they present themselves,” he says.

And unlike most kids his age, he has a clear answer for that million-dollar question: Where does Zach see himself in the future?

“Right now, I think the plan is grad school but after school, my dream goal is to be involved in public policy, whether it’s running for office or being involved in
government and legislature,” he says. n