The University of Lynchburg Board of Trustees has approved the renaming of three facilities: McMillan Hall, the Center for Leadership, and the University Research Center.
McMillan Hall, home to Lynchburg’s nursing program, is now Bowen-McMillan Hall. The building, which fronts College Street, is named for Lynchburg-area philanthropists Dr. Robert Richardson Bowen ’50 and his wife, Rebecca Peebles Bowen.
Dr. Bowen, a local orthopedic surgeon, died in 2013. His wife, a Sussex County, Virginia, native whose career revolved around fashion and antiques, died in 2018. Through planned giving, the couple donated $1.8 million to Lynchburg, which was used to remodel the nursing building.
When the Bowens’ gift was announced in 2018, the Office of Advancement released the following statement: “We are incredibly grateful that the Bowens would support the University of Lynchburg and our nursing program in this way.
“We will work with the School of Nursing and the Bowen family to find ways to honor this couple, who left a remarkable impact on the University of Lynchburg and the surrounding community.”
The Center for Leadership has been renamed the Owen Cardwell Center for Leadership. It memorializes Dr. Owen C. Cardwell Jr., Lynchburg’s former Rosel Schewel Distinguished Professor of Education and Human Development and co-director of the University’s Center for Leadership.
Cardwell, who died in May 2025, also was an esteemed civil right activist and Martin Luther King Jr. scholar. In an email to the campus community following Cardwell’s death, University President Dr. Alison Morrison-Shetlar wrote, “Owen’s work was all about creating a community where everybody could thrive.
“He had this remarkable ability to connect with people from all walks of life — to value them, even when there were disagreements. He stood firm in his own beliefs, rooted deeply in faith, yet he always sought common ground, always with a focus on nurturing the growth and development of our youth.”
In a letter to Julie Doyle, chair of the University of Lynchburg Board of Trustees, Flora Cardwell, Cardwell’s widow, said she and her family were “deeply humbled” to receive the “wonderful news” of the center’s renaming.
“This gracious recognition of my husband’s many contributions to the University and the Lynchburg community is especially meaningful, particularly during this season of giving,” she wrote in December 2025.
“The honor bestowed upon him not only acknowledges his legacy and achievements but also serves as a testament to the values of leadership, service, and community engagement that he exemplified.”
The University Research Center, located on Brevard Street, has been named for Dr. Percy Wootton ’53, the center’s primary benefactor. According to Dr. Tom Bowman, the Percy Wootton Research Center’s executive director, Wootton “made significant donations to the University over time.”
In the spring, Bowman said, the center will launch a pilot program, Course Based Undergraduate Research Experience, or CURE. What Bowman described as a “full rollout” would happen in the 2026-27 academic year.
“CURE courses champion faculty members’ research … by offering time, space, student contribution, and funding for specific and achievable scholarly projects,” he said. “At the same time, they invite students into professional scholarship through experiential learning.
“At its best, a CURE course helps the faculty member move their project ahead without compromising our focus on student experience. The CURE model allows students to function as research assistants: They learn how to do scholarship by doing, and that active learning component likewise contributes to the faculty member’s designated scholarly goals.”
Bowman said his hope is that the Percy Wootton Research Center becomes “the hub of all campus scholarship, including Fulbright, grant funding, CUREs, scholarly writing initiatives, the Student Scholar Showcase, the Institutional Review Board, the Institutional Animal Care and Use Committee, and the Schewel Fund Awards for faculty-student scholarship.”
