SCUP's Board of Directors named J. Thomas Bowen the 2006 Distinguished Service Award recipient. Bowen currently serves as vice president of administration and finance at Piedmont College in Demorest, Georgia. Bowen is a past member of SCUP's Board of Directors where he served as Director-at-Large.

He also chaired SCUP's Knowledge Committee and was a member of the Professional Development Committee. He currently serves as a member of SCUP's Southern Regional Council.

He serves as an associate editor for SCUP's Planning for Higher Education journal and wrote a chapter entitled, "Technology's Contributions to Academic Planning" for the book, Technology-Driven Planning: Principles to Practice.

He has conducted workshops and has given presentations at SCUP's regional and international conferences.

The Distinguished Service Award recognizes exceptional contributions to the activities and success of SCUP. Recipients are nominated and selected on the basis of their contributions to SCUP, length of service, and commitment to its purposes, goals, and activities. This award began in 1989.

Past Distinguished Service Award recipients include Richard A. Rigterink, James L. Murdock, Trudis Heinecke, Brian Nedwek, Rodney Rose, Space Management Workshop Team (Clinton N. Hewitt, O. Robert Simha, William R. Tibbs, Elizabeth Anderson, Richard Franz, Margaret M. McDermott, Joanne D. Cate; Daniel K. Paulien, Helen Giles-Gee, David E. Hollowell, John A. Dunn, Ira Fink, Donald M. Norris, Haskin R. Pounds, Marilyn McCoy, The University of Michigan, Marvin W. Peterson, Raymond M. Haas, and Jeffrey Holmes.)