Isaiah Bowman (1878-1950) was a distinguished academic in the field of geography. He taught at several universities in the United States of America before accepting a position in 1915 as the Director of the American Geographical Society. He remained in this role until 1935 when he accepted a new position as president of John Hopkins University. Bowman served as president until he retired in 1948. Throughout his career, Bowman also served as an advisor to the U.S. Department of State in various roles.

Bowman was known for his anti-Semitic and racist views. As the advisor to President Franklin D. Roosevelt in 1938, Bowman supported accepting only low quotas of Jewish refugees fleeing the Nazis into the United States. In addition, he was known to be reluctant to hire Jewish faculty and staff and John Hopkins University and placed a quota on the admission of students of Jewish descent.

Although Bowman was born in Waterloo, Ontario he moved to the United States with his family as a young child and his connection to the region is minimal. The University of Waterloo officially dedicated the Arts II building as the Isaiah Bowman Building of the Social Sciences on October 26, 1967. In 1974, the name was changed to the Isaiah Bowman Building for Environmental Studies. In 2008, the building was officially renamed Environment I (EV1). A picture of Bowman and a plaque from the dedication ceremony in 1967 remained in the lobby of the building until 2022.