Bowers Finds Home At Florida State

Printing is in Jennifer Bowers' blood. Her father taught the subject at Purdue University.

"I'm a university brat," she quips. "Probably that connection got me interested in graphics."

Bowers took that connection and turned it into an accomplished career, finally landing in Tallahassee as director of Printing and Mailing Services at Florida State University.

Bowers, 45, grew up in South Bend, Ind., before moving to Colorado. While in high school she took a job at a small print shop.

"I did everything," she reports. She typed out the projects on an old typewriter, shot film from it and ran the plates. Later, she moved to New York and was hired to run a Perfector Press.

"I was the first woman [the company] ever hired," she enthuses—but there was a slight problem: She did not know how to run the machine.

"I kind of faked it for a while, but I figured it out," she admits.

Next came a move back to Indiana where Bowers managed for the top commercial quick printer in the state. But something was missing: a college degree. She started attending classes at Indiana University Purdue University-Fort Wayne. Then, as luck would have it, there was an opening at the university in-plant. She took the job.

"It's called cheap tuition," she muses. "That's what got me back into university printing. I'm still here."

Moving On Up

At this point, fate seemed to smile on Bowers. Her outstanding work earned her the trust of her supervisor, Dave Leeka. This combined with an odd string of retirements propelled Bowers into a series of promotions.

"Instead of replacing these people, my boss kept giving me departments," she recounts. Eventually she ran printing, mailing and buying.

Leeka eventually moved on to Florida State University (FSU). Two years later he asked Bowers to run the university in-plant. Bowers had just finished with her degree in business from Indiana Wesleyan University and felt a change was in order. She took the job and returned to work with her mentor.

"It makes me very proud," she beams. "I want to do a good job for him. I think everyone should be so lucky to get the opportunity to grow."

After moving to Florida she was faced with quite a challenge. The in-plant was about to go through major upheaval, and Bowers was being thrown right into the fray.

"The first thing we did was update the copy center," she reports. "They were using old analog machines. Sales were going down. We were losing customers because of the quality."

The in-plant purchased two Toshiba E65 digital copiers along with two color copiers: a Xerox DocuColor 40 and a Canon 2150.

"People want color and they want it right now," she says. Customers could also now send jobs via the Internet.

"We were joking about putting in a drive-through window," she says.

Although the conversion improved productivity and quality, Bowers admits the change was a challenge to the staff. "It's hard for people who've never been in a digital world to go from analog to digital," she says.

A Major Expansion

But that was just the start. The addition of Postal Services created a need to expand the shop. A 5,000-square-foot extension was built this past October. The shop's outdated sorter was also replaced with a Böwe Bell & Howell Criterion IV sorting machine. By the end, every piece of machinery in the in-plant was moved.

To top it off, FSU hosted the University Printing and Duplicating Managers Conference in late October. The guests toured the in-plant one week after the expansion was complete. "Nothing like a tight deadline," Bowers jokes.

In the two years since she's been there, the in-plant has expanded to 12,000 square feet with 80 full- or part-time employees and an operating budget of over $5 million.

"I think these were all major accomplishments over the last two years," Bowers says. "I'm really proud of the employees here. I've got some highly skilled, highly motivated employees that really care about the job."

Beyond the print shop, Bowers says there's one major benefit to working at FSU. "The Beach!" Bowers just bought a home in Carrabelle, Fla., and plans to spend a great amount of time soaking up the rays.

"It's just beautiful down there," she says.

-By Joe Ranoia