Bowden Fellows Program Launches

A new fellowship program launched by Texas Law’s First Amendment Center will support scholarship on freedom of religion, speech, association, and more, as well as related issues arising from technological innovations.

The Murry and Polly Bowden Fellows Program, supported by a generous gift from the Texas Law alumnus and his wife, will advance the work of academics who offer a wide variety of viewpoints. “The program promotes scholarship related to First Amendment freedoms and encourages better understanding of First Amendment freedoms among students,” says Professor Steven T. Collis, founding faculty director of the Bech-Loughlin First Amendment Center and its Law and Religion Clinic.

Starting in fall 2025, fellows each year will include one scholar in residence at the Law School, a number of nonresident scholars at other universities across the country, and approximately 20 students enrolled in various programs around The University of Texas at Austin. This year, there are 29 faculty and student fellows in total.

The program’s launch comes at a crucial time. “There are numerous ongoing challenges to First Amendment freedoms as well as thorny new problems constantly arising from technology, especially artificial intelligence and social media,” Collis says. He explains that the program helps leading thinkers—providing them with resources and opportunities to share their ideas—to consider pitfalls and generate creative solutions.

Bowden ’75 grew up in West Texas and graduated from Dartmouth College before attending Texas Law. In 1982, Bowden founded Hanover Co., a family-owned, private, and fully integrated real estate development company, where he is currently the executive chairman.

He notes that First Amendment rights continue to evolve with decisions by the courts and public debates. “With the creation of the First Amendment Center, Texas Law has chosen to be an active participant in this evolutionary process,” Bowden says. “Polly and I believe the mission of the Center is critical to our nation’s future, shaping and leading the way to a more comprehensive understanding and protection of these rights.”

“The Center, by bringing to campus leading experts and scholars, will be fulfilling a critical educational mission to further enhance understanding of the First Amendment,” he says. “This effort will both strengthen and protect those precious rights and provide greater clarity on the subject.”

All the program’s fellows will participate in a retreat at the end of the academic year, where they can workshop and strengthen their current writing projects.

The non-resident fellows (pictured below) have also been selected.

• Annika Barkdull, visiting professor and fellow at Brigham Young University’s J. Reuben Clark Law School, is studying religious liberty.
• Greg Dickinson, assistant professor at University of Nebraska–Lincoln College of Law, is studying artificial intelligence and internet regulation.
• Tyler Dobbs, associate at Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher LLP in Washington, D.C., is studying free speech.
• Erica Goldberg, professor at Gonzaga University School of Law Gonzaga Law, is studying free speech and productive discourse.
• Joshua McDaniel, assistant clinical professor at Harvard Law School and faculty director of the school’s Religious Freedom Clinic, is studying religious liberty.
• Christina Mulligan, professor at Brooklyn Law School, is studying internet regulation.
• Mark Storslee, associate professor at UNC-Chapel Hill Law, is studying religious liberty.

“We want high quality scholarship from a variety of viewpoints on all the freedoms of the First Amendment, from people all over the country who are working on these different areas,” Collis says.

The program’s student fellows, meanwhile, applied from and were ultimately selected to represent a wide assortment of UT departments at both the undergraduate and graduate levels. “We really want to build bridges across different majors and schools,” Collis says.

This year’s student fellows include:

“Over time, I hope many academics in the First Amendment space aspire to become Bowden Fellows at UT,” says Collis.