First, he planned on teaching music at the high-school level; however, mid-way through college he discovered his love of playing while studying with Reginald Kell.
After spending two years in Jacksonville, in 1961, he decided to attend West Virginia University to pursue a Ph.D in music education with a minor in musicology.
After Borkowski's tenure with Ohio, he was appointed the first vice chancellor at Purdue University in West Lafayette, Indiana.
During his tenure, he also sought to bring what were ultimately criminal theft charges against the student Petr Taborsky who had invented a novel clay material that could absorb ammonia and other toxic substances.
[2] The path to take a criminal as opposed to a civil action against the student has been widely criticized [3] In 1993, Borkowski was appointed Appalachian State University's fifth chancellor.
Holmes Convocation Center, the university’s basketball and multi-purpose arena, was built during his time at Appalachian State.
Between 1995 and 1997, many rapes occurred on campus, and some blamed Borkowski for weak leadership and failure to punish perpetrators vigorously.
Similar questions had been raised about his time at the University of South Florida, where a star basketball player avoided punishment despite reports that he had raped and/or sexually assaulted six women over the course of some months.
[4] In 2002, he designated an area on campus a "free-speech-zone," which was created in response to students protesting American foreign policy.