Judy Copeland Rowell
Thelma Harmon Turner Alumni Loyalty Award
Judy Copeland Rowell is the daughter of a West Georgia alumnus. She became an alumnus herself in 1966 after obtaining a BA in English and a minor in education. During her undergraduate years, she was a student assistant in the office of Dean George Walker and was one of several telephone switchboard operators for the campus, manning the old trunk system – complete with headset and punch cords.
Following graduation, Rowell taught junior high school English for three years before returning to the graduate school to earn her masters and specialist degrees in guidance and counseling. She spent 27 years as the counselor at Bowdon Primary/Elementary and then Bowdon Elementary before her retirement in 1997. Adding five more years as a part-time counselor for Carroll County and Carrollton City, she worked at every grade level from Pre-K through 12.
Her professional affiliations include National Council of Teachers of English, Georgia Education Association, Professional Association of Georgia Educators, Phi Delta Kappa, Carroll County Counselor’s Association, where she served two terms as president, Georgia School Counselors Association, where she served as elementary president, and Follow Me Foundation, where she served as a board member. She was the first secretary of the North Georgia College and State University Parents Association. She is the scholarship chair for Carroll Heard Retired Educators and is a member of Georgia Retired Educators Association. She also serves on the Community Foundation Greenspace Committee.
Rowell has been a member of the Bowdon First United Methodist Handbell Choir and served as the Coordinator of the Higher Education Ministry. She is the wedding and flower coordinator at Victory Methodist Church and serves as the PPR chair.
She was the Bowdon Woman of the Year in 1981 and is an active member of the Bowdon Area Historical Society where she serves as historian and museum co-chair. She enjoys participating in living history demonstrations for the society and has a special interest in carrying those demonstrations to the Bowdon area schools. She has edited several books on local history for the Bowdon Area Historical Society and co-authored books about Bowdon First United Methodist Church and Bowdon College.
With the support of University Advancement and Publications and Printing, she helped organize the “Bowdon College Reunion” in August of 2006 – the prelude event to the university’s Centennial Celebration. This project won the Georgia Museum and Galleries 2006 Award for Excellence for Special Projects under $100,000, and the book won the Best of Category Award from the Printing and Imaging Association of Georgia. A copy of the book was placed in the UWG time capsule sealed in August.
Rowell enjoys the activities of the UWG National Alumni Association Board of Directors and has served as its vice president and on homecoming, student relations and awards nominations committees.
She is married to Jim Rowell, also a UWG alumnus and retired school counselor. They enjoy a retirement lifestyle in Bowdon which includes some travel. They are the parents of Julie Rowell Steed, a 1994 UWG graduate and Captain Cope Rowell, US Army, Iraq. They have two granddaughters, Mattie and Caroline and are awaiting the arrival of Ramsey Copeland Rowell in December.