This article is written by a student writer from the Her Campus at Mizzou chapter.
Since his appointment, Mizzou students have fallen in love with Chancellor R. Bowen Loftin, or, as he endearingly goes by on social media, “bowtieger.” Today, Her Campus introduces to you the woman behind the man, Mrs. Karin Loftin.
Karin Loftin is originally from Hamburg, Germany. She moved to the US when she was 11 years old to Chesaning, MI. While her heritage is important to her, she primarily considers herself an American.
“I took US history,” she says. “One of my earliest memories is going though the naturalization process.”
She attended Oakland University in Michigan where she studies as a pre-med student. After graduating, she worked in Dallas and supported herself. While she wanted to work with animals, her father deterred her from that dream.
“I was told women do not go into veterinary medicine,” Loftin said. “Now, there are more women in vet medicine than men.”
She realized she was more interested in the research side of medicine when she found she didn’t like killing the rats in lab classes. She pursued research, and eventually ended up doing research at Texas A&M while her husband worked as the Chancellor. She met Chancellor Bowen Loftin while she was still studying in Houston.
“Bowen was going to school at Rice University. One of my friends was dating one of Bowen’s friends, and they arranged a double date,” Loftin said. They met in a student lounge that the Chancellor and his friend had built, which they called Valhalla. She recalls it being one of the first and only distributors of Shiner Bock in Texas.
Three months after they met, they got married.
“We fell in love and we were both going to school, we didn’t have any money. We realized it would be easier if we were married.”
She recalls living in a small apartment, “nothing compared to the Chancellor’s residence,” and saving money by eating beef from cattle on the Chancellor’s family farm.
“It’s pretty amazing to come from that to now living here. I am happy to be here,” Loftin said.
Karin Loftin is fully retired now as a researcher and said she want to stay retired to pursue her equestrian goals.
“I have always been enamored with horses,” Loftin said.
She became interested in equestrian contests about eight years ago and now rides dressage for competition. So far, she and her horse, Fritz, have reached level 1 of training.
“We are working are way up, it’s a process,” said Loftin.
Karin said she the hardest part of moving from Texas was moving away from so many opportunities to compete and train. Fritz stays at a barn a few miles away and Loftin visits him almost everyday.
Columbia is much different than the Texas landscape Loftin was used to.
Loftin said she has been surprised by the amount of student activity around the residence. The Chancellor’s residence at A&M was much more removed from campus so she didn’t see many students around.
“I love the quad. Its always busy,” said Loftin. “It was fun to watch the snow day. I was invited to go out and help build the snow man.” She said she didn’t join however because she’s still not used to Missouri’s cold weather.
Her favorite thing about Mizzou is the sports.
“I hope we get an equestrian team, that is something I would look forward to getting involved with,” Loftin said.
She was most surprised by how close the Columbia is to the University. While she said she hasn’t explored much of downtown she said her favorite restaurant in town
is Casablanca.
“It reminds me of my German heritage and my relationship with Bowen, we both really like the movie,” Loftin said. “And the food was excellent.”