UMass Boston

Lauren Marshall Bowen's research in writing studies primarily examines literacy, identity, and aging across the lifespan, with particular attention to how age shapes and is shaped by literate practices. Her interdisciplinary work also advances age inclusivity in higher education, where she has helped develop foundational frameworks and assessment tools for creating age-friendly campus environments.

PhD, English (concentration in Writing Studies), University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign, 2012

MA, English, University of Maine, 2006

BA, English, University of Maine, 2004

Peer-Reviewed Articles

Montepare, J., Silverstein, N., Bowen, L. M., Whitbourne, S. K., Nikzad-Terhune, K., Graf, A. S., & Porter, M. M. (forthcoming). Reimagining the academic environment: Applying the Age Inclusivity Domains of Higher Education (AIDHE) model. The Gerontologist.

Bowen, L. M., & Pinkert, L. A. (forthcoming 2026). 'The field continues to occupy me': Writing expertise and civic engagement in retirement from rhetoric, composition, and writing studies. Writing & Pedagogy, 17(2) [Special issue: The Writing Lives We Choose: Exploring Agency with Lifespan Writing Research].

Banat, H., & Bowen, L. M. (forthcoming 2026). Holistic guided self-placement for multilingual students. WPA: Writing Program Administration, 49(2).

Montepare, J. M., Bowen, L. M., Whitbourne, S. K., & Silverstein, N. M. (2024). Perceptions of age inclusivity in higher education by students, faculty, and staff: Broadening the view of diversity, equity, and inclusion. Gerontology & Geriatrics Education, 1–13. 

Bowen, L. M., Silverstein, N. M., Montepare, J. M., Whitbourne, S. K., Lin, Y., & Xu, S. (2024). Evidence-based strategies for creating age-inclusive campuses. Journal of Diversity in Higher Education, 18(Suppl. 1). 

Whitbourne, S. K., Bowen, L. M., Silverstein, N., Montepare, J., & Stokes, J. E. (2024). Promoting age inclusivity in higher education campus practices and perceptions by students, faculty, and staff. Research in Higher Education, 65, 601–624. 

Silverstein, N., Whitbourne, S. K., Bowen, L. M., Montepare, J., Jansen, T., Beaulieu, C., & Prasad, A. (2022). Assessing age inclusivity in higher education: Introducing the Age-Friendly Inventory and Campus Climate Survey. The Gerontologist, 62(1), e48–e61. 

Pinkert, L. A., & Bowen, L. M. (2021). Disciplinary lifecycling: A generative framework for career trajectories in rhetoric, composition, and writing studies. Composition Studies, 49(1), 16–41. 

Bowen, L. M., & Pinkert, L. A. (2020). Identities developed, identities denied: Examining the disciplinary activities and disciplinary positioning of retirees in rhetoric, composition, and writing studies. College Composition and Communication, 72(2), 251–281. 

Bowen, L. M. (2020). Age identity and literacy. Enculturation, 31. 

Silverstein, N. M., Hendricksen, M., Bowen, L. M., Fonte Weaver, A. J., & Whitbourne, S. K. (2019). Developing an Age-Friendly University (AFU) audit: A pilot study. Gerontology & Geriatrics Education, 40(2), 203–220. 

Bowen, L. M. (2018). Composing a further life. Literacy in Composition Studies, 6(2), vi–xxii. 

Bowen, L. M. (2017). The limits of hacking composition pedagogy. Computers and Composition, 74, 1–14. 

Bowen, L. M., Arko, K., Beatty, J., Delaney, C., Dorpenyo, I., Möller, L., Roberts, E., & Velat, J. (2014). Community engagement in a graduate-level community literacy course. Community Literacy Journal, 9(1), 20–40. 

Bowen, L. M. (2014). The literacy narrative of Chadwick's The First Grader. Age, Culture, Humanities, 1(1), 63–95. 

Bowen, L. M. (2012). Beyond repair: Literacy, technology, and a curriculum of aging. College English, 74(5), 437–457. 

Bowen, L. M. (2011). Resisting age bias in digital literacy research. College Composition and Communication, 62(4), 586–607. 

Peer-Reviewed Book Chapters

Pinkert, L. A., & Bowen, L. M. (2026). Laboring through the lifecycle: Toward a disciplinary approach to faculty evaluation. In T. Oleksiak & J. Barsczewski (Eds.), Adequate: Writing new logics of success in rhetoric and composition (pp. 181–198). Utah State University Press. 

Bowen, L. M., & Pinkert, L. A. (2024). Political, personal, and pedagogical imperatives: Tactical disciplinarity among early members of writing studies. In L. C. Lewis (Ed.), Pivotal strategies: Claiming writing studies as discipline (pp. 23–43). Utah State University Press. 

Bowen, L. M. (2024). Literacy narratives and age identity across the lifespan. In V. Lipscomb & A. Swinnen (Eds.), The Palgrave handbook of literature and aging (pp. 77–96). Palgrave. 

Montepare, J. M., Farah, K. S., Bowen, L. M., Silverstein, N. M., & Whitbourne, S. K. (2024). Age-friendly campuses. In V. C. Greer & L. S. Edelman (Eds.), Age-friendly ecosystems: Environments for equitable aging by design (pp. 37–52). Springer. 

Bowen, L. M. (2020). Literacy tours and material matters: Principles for studying the literate lives of older adults. In R. J. Dippre & T. Phillips (Eds.), Approaches to lifespan writing research: Generating an actionable coherence (pp. 111–125). The WAC Clearinghouse/University Press of Colorado. 

Bowen, L. M., & Davis, M. (2020). Teaching for transfer and the design of a tutor education course. In B. Devet & D. Driscoll (Eds.), Transfer of learning in the writing center: A WLN digital edited collection. 

Rumsey, S. K., Ray, R. E., Bowen, L. M., & Hillard, D. (2012). The 'new discourse city' of older writers: Aging and disability as assets to collaborative learning. In I. Baca (Ed.), Service-learning and writing: Paving the way for literacy(ies) through community engagement (pp. 205–226). Brill. 

Edited Special Issues

Bowen, L. M., & Rumsey, S. K. (Eds.). (2018). Composing a further life [Special issue]. Literacy in Composition Studies, 6(2).