Wayne H. Bowen, Ph.D.
Professor of History and Interim Dean
College of Undergraduate Studies
Dr. Bowen’s Faculty Profile
Dr. Wayne H. Bowen is Professor of History and Interim Dean for the College of Undergraduate Studies (CUGS) at the University of Central Florida (UCF). He is responsible for developing and implementing policies and practices for undergraduate students at UCF and CUGS. Additionally, he provides oversight for the university’s General Education Program. Bowen is also a retired Colonel in the US Army Reserve and served in Iraq and with NATO in Bosnia-Herzegovina.
He received a B.A. in History from the University of Southern California, an M.A. and Ph.D. in European History from Northwestern University, and a Master’s in Strategic Studies from the US Army War College. He is a specialist on modern Spain, focused on the era of the Franco dictatorship.
Bowen is the author of nine books, six on Spanish history, from the early modern era to the Cold War. He has also published more than two dozen articles in academic journals, with subjects including the Middle East, the Mediterranean, and Great Power relations since 1800. His articles have been published in ten countries and translated into Spanish, Polish, French, and Turkish. Bowen is currently finishing a contracted book on Spanish workers in Nazi Germany and conducting research for a subsequent monograph on relations between the Spanish and Ottoman Empires from the seventeenth to the twentieth centuries.
Bowen is an active member of the Central Florida community. He serves on the City of Oviedo’s Sustainability Task Force, as a member of the Seminole County and Oviedo-Winter Springs Chambers of Commerce, and is an Assistant Clerk for the Seminole County Supervisor of Elections. He is a graduate of the City of Oviedo’s Community Police Academy and a 2023-24 participant in Seminole County Public Schools’ Community Ambassador Program.
Bowen’s proudest moments at UCF are watching CUGS graduates walk across the stage at commencement, seeing the joy on their faces after overcoming so many challenges.