Casey Cook
Assistant Professor, Animation & Visual Communication Technology
Casey Cook has enjoyed a distinctive, eclectic career working as both a creative professional and also as a post-secondary instructor in creative visual communications. He has been involved with numerous creative fields including traditional art and illustration, graphic design, web design and full stack development, digital photography / video / audio production, interactive multimedia, various animation mediums, marketing, and instructional design.
He earned his Bachelor of Arts degree in Studio Art from Arizona State University, and a Master of Education in Career and Technology Education at Bowling Green State University. Since arriving in northwest Ohio in 2004, Casey has worked for several prominent organizations in the region including Bowling Green State University, Toledo School for the Arts, Root Inc., Toledo Zoo, YMCA of Greater Toledo, and Saint Rose Catholic Church in Perrysburg, along with several other local freelance clients.
Casey also volunteered as chairman of the OLPH Festival in south Toledo for ten years, gaining even more skills in leadership, event planning, business acumen, media relations, and community partnering.
He started at Owens Community College in 2011 as a part-time adjunct instructor for the Commercial Art program in the College of Fine and Performing Arts. He has taught courses related to web design, graphic design, interactive multimedia, and motion graphics. He was hired as a full-time Instructor in Fine and Performing Arts in the Fall of 2019.
Ruth Foote
Professor, Photography
Originally from the Detroit area, Ruth Foote is also a part-time resident of upstate New York, where she spends summers working in her studio.
Photography has been part of her life since before she was born. Her parents documented important events that were then shared communally via slideshows. Her first camera was a 126 instamatic and she continued the family tradition. Although interested in the arts, Foote was discouraged from becoming a starving artist during college. Instead, she studied environmental biology at Calvin College in Grand Rapids, Mich. After earning her bachelor’s degree, she spent several years in the environmental advocacy field working for watchdog organizations such as the Sierra Club. Her career took a different direction after she rekindled her personal interest in photography and pursued her Master of Fine Art at Southern Illinois University.
During her graduate work, she discovered her passion for teaching and has been in the classroom ever since. Prior to Owens, she taught at a number of colleges and universities throughout the Midwest, including Rochester Institute of Technology, Skidmore College, and University of Michigan. Her teaching experience includes beginning through advanced levels in both wet darkroom and digital applications.
Foote’s award-winning work has been exhibited nationally and internationally. Her personal artwork covers a range of subjects and technologies. She believes that the message of the work drives what medium is most appropriate. Movement and multiple exposures are distinct visual elements in much of her work, as she seeks images that convey an interpretive emotional feel, rather than a descriptive illustration of fact. She still has that 126 instamatic but prefers her pinhole camera; or she occasionally uses digital SLR’s or old view cameras to create a range of imagery from Daguerreotypes to Ink jet prints.
Carey Marten
Professor, Visual Communication Technology
Carey Marten has been teaching in the Commercial Art program since August 2003. She was hired full time in August 2006.
Marten graduated from Bowling Green State University with a Master of Education majoring in Career and Technology Education in August of 2004. She also is a 2002 graduate from BGSU with a Bachelor of Science in Technology, specializing in Visual Communication Technology. Like many of her students, she too started her education at a two-year community college, where she received an Associate of Applied Science degree specializing in Graphics from Terra Community College.
Marten does the majority of her freelance work for her hometown of Bellevue, Ohio, where she designs many different types of materials from print to multimedia. She designed the 2010 Northwest Ohio Aids Walk logo that was held at International Parkway in Toledo. Marten’s freelance design work is an important part of how she keeps current with design trends and programs.
Kevin Schroeder
Professor, Fine Art
Kevin Schroeder received his Master’s of Fine Arts from Bowling Green State University in 1990. He has also studied in Florence, Italy. An accomplished and nationally renowned artist, Schroder has presented exhibitions across the country as well as establishing a distinguished record as a juror and curator.
Robert Thomas
Assistant Professor, Broadcast Media Technology
Rob Thomas is an Instructor for Broadcast Media Technology and the manager of OutComm – Owens Student Media Center. Before coming to instruct full-time at Owens Community College, Rob served a number of years with the YMCA of Greater Toledo, promoting the organization to staff, members, volunteers, community collaborators, media and the community at large. Prior to his career with the Y, Rob spent eighteen years in the broadcast industry as air talent and production director for Clear Channel (now known as iHeartRadio) that included Toledo radio station 92.5 Kiss fm. Rob is a multimedia producer, utilizing his skills to help not-for-profit and for-profit businesses, including Car Stereo One, The Erie Shores Council of the Boy Scouts of America, Jeffrey Mann Fine Jewelers, Stone Oak Business Condominiums, and Sylvania Northview Wildcat Marching Band. Rob earned a Bachelors degree in Radio-Television Production with emphasis on Broadcast Script Writing from Ohio University (Athens, Ohio).