It was like something out of an office rom-com. He was “the guy down in AIS,” she was “the cute girl who works on the 4th floor.” And the setting, of all places, was the MSU Administration Building, where co-worker grapevines, mixed messages, and a handwritten note laid the groundwork for true love.
The Chance Encounter
Ed Gowens (’92, Natural Science) had just graduated with a degree in computational mathematics and gotten a job with Administrative Information Services, and Stacia (Hall) Gowens (’95, Business; ’00 MBA), a third-generation Spartan, was studying marketing and working in the President’s office four floors above.
Their initial meeting—a chance encounter in the parking garage outside of work—was enough to capture Ed’s interest, but Stacia wasn’t sure what to make of it when he asked her what her name was, then disappeared for two months.
The Office Grapevine
At one point during those two months, Stacia mentioned her interest in “the guy down in AIS” to a co-worker, and wondered out loud about why she hadn’t seen him in a while. That co-worker talked to a colleague in AIS, and eventually the news made it back up to the fourth floor that Ed was married.
But, spoiler alert! The office grapevine got it wrong. Ed wasn’t married!
And while Stacia was upstairs wondering if she’d missed her chance, Ed was downstairs, writing her a note to set the record straight.
He planned to hand-deliver the note to the fourth floor at lunchtime, figuring Stacia would be in class and he could make a quick retreat without risking possible face-to-face rejection. But as fate would have it, there Stacia sat. At the front desk.
Love at First Conversation
Instead of being on the receiving end of a face-to-face rejection right there in the 4th floor reception area of the MSU Administration Building, Ed Gowens ended up spending 20 minutes talking to the woman who would become his wife.
He left her with his phone number. She called later that evening. After that first conversation, Stacia says, “We’ve spoken to each other every day since.”
They went on their first date—at Crunchy’s, of course—shortly after, and the rest, as they say is history.
It Runs in the Family
MSU has continued to be a part of their story, and has woven itself into their children’s stories, too. Their first child was a toddler when Stacia, expecting their second child, returned to MSU to study for her MBA in the late 1990’s.
“Our second child was literally on campus every day until her birth,” Stacia says. Clearly, she was born with some Spartan green in her blood. “She’s now a high school junior and would love to attend her parents’—and grandparents’ and great-grandfather’s—alma mater.”
Share your own MSU Love Story, or look through our album of other Spartans who found love at MSU.