William G. Bowen, an economist and provost of Princeton, was named president of Princeton Monday, ending a seven month search for the university's seventeenth president.

Peter Wendell, president of Princeton's senior class, yesterday expressed mixed reactions to Bowen's appointment. Wendell said that the provost is "obviously an expert in the business and financial management of the university," but added that there were those "who feel he may lack visionary and humanistic characteristics that one looks for in a president."

In his position as provost, Bowen worked with the Commission on the Future of the college, which recommended a three-year degree program and a trimester system in an interim report released last weekend. Wendell said he "would not be surprised" to see these changes made under the new administration.

Steve Massad, managing editor of the Daily Princetonian, said yesterday that he also expects Bowen to make "substantial changes" in the university's organization. Massad said that Bowen was "generally well regarded by the students," but added that some students dislike him because they "think him too much of a financial wizard."

Bowen has been involved, in his position as provost, in most of the recent major policy decisions at Princeton such as the change to co-education and attempts to increase the number of minority group students.

Bowen, who is 38 years old, graduated from Denison University in 1955 and gained a doctorate in economics from Princeton in 1958.