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Somerville Highlights Owens’ Next Chapter in State of the College Address

Dr. Dione D. Somerville, president of Owens Community College, address the crowd on the Toledo-area Campus during the 2026 State of the College address.

President Dr. Dione D. Somerville highlighted Owens Community College’s continued focus on student success, workforce development and institutional improvement, while introducing the Owens Has Heart initiative during her annual State of the College address on Monday.

Students will return to campus for the first day of the fall semester on Monday, August 24.

The State of the College address provides an annual update on the direction and various initiatives at Owens. The event brought faculty and staff together on the Findlay-area and Toledo-area campuses and welcomed a number of elected officials and community leaders as well. More than 300 Owens employees and community leaders attended the events.

Dr. Jo Blodin, keynote speaker during the State of the College address, speaks during the event on the Findlay-area Campus.

Among those attending were Lu Cooke, representing Ohio Senate President Rob McColley; Roy Palmer, representing U.S. Sen. Bernie Moreno; Erin Kramer and George Sarantou, Toledo City Council; Lisa Sobecki and Anita Lopez, Lucas County commissioners; Christa Luttmann, representing Gov. Mike DeWine; Ashley Behan, representing U.S. Sen. Jon Husted; Barbara Orange, representing U.S. Representative Bob Latta; and representatives from Raise the Bar, WGTE Public Media, Toledo Regional Chamber of Commerce, Hope Toledo and Montrose Group.

During the address, Somerville outlined initiatives focused on student success, workforce development, employee development and continuous improvement as Owens prepares for the 2026-27 academic year.

Somerville celebrated the implementation of EAB Navigate360, a comprehensive success platform designed to strengthen student engagement, persistence and completion. By creating a more connected and data-informed approach to student support, Navigate360 will help increase retention, completion and overall student success.

In the fall, Owens will be one of five community colleges in Ohio participating in the U.S. Department of Labor-funded Earn and Learn initiative, which creates another direct pathway into high-demand careers in advanced manufacturing.

Owens employees will benefit from a new professional development and training program that launches this week, focusing on values-based communication for managers and supervisors and provide training for additional employee groups throughout the academic year.

Somerville also spoke about the college’s work with the Higher Learning Commission to build on Owens’ commitment to support student learning and success through assessment. This fall, faculty will see the first phase of that work launch through the “We Learn Together” initiative, expanded workshops, practical assessment toolkits and new resources designed to make assessment more meaningful and useful.

During the State of the College address, Somerville welcomed two guest speakers, Avi Zaffini, the president and CEO of the Ohio Association of Community Colleges, and Dr. Jo Alice Blondin, the president of the Arkansas College of Health Education in Fort Smith, Arkansas. Blondin spent 13 years as the president of Clark State College in Springfield, where she was granted the title of President Emerita.

During her keynote address, Blondin said, “Owens stands among the top community colleges in Ohio, if not the country.”

“Owens Community College, and indeed community colleges in general, are engines of opportunity in this country,” Blondin said. “Our missions are more relevant than ever — to serve all learners with programs that result in good paying jobs or transfer to a university — and telling the story of our mission reinforces the promise that Owens offers its students: affordable pathways, rigorous programs with highly-qualified faculty and community and workforce engagement that is part of the DNA of community colleges.”

Somerville and Zaffini also recognized faculty members for various awards, including the new Adjunct Faculty Roll of Distinction. The award is presented to adjunct faculty members who exhibit superior and sustained performance in the service of students and their learning. Inaugural awardees were:

• Kimberly Fisher (Teacher Education and Human Services): Fisher is Co-Coordinator of the Early Childhood Education program who prepares future educators to create engaging learning experiences for children and families. She also serves as a Children’s Librarian at the Lagrange Branch of the Toledo Lucas County Public Library.
• David Seeger (Business Technologies): Seeger is an Owens alum and Hall of Fame recipient, leadership consultant and retired credit union CEO with more than four decades of experience in leadership, management, marketing, finance and higher education. He continues to conduct applied leadership research and develop innovative educational programs integrating human expertise with artificial intelligence.
• Kirsten Seele (Food, Nutrition and Hospitality): Seele is a registered dietitian who has taught Human Nutrition for five years, emphasizing student-centered learning and connecting nutrition science to everyday life and future careers.

The Presidential Teaching Award, which recognizes quality and innovation in teaching and commendable service to the college, was awarded to Jen Hazel, professor of Humanities. She is also the Director of Assessment and Learning and creates innovative, student-centered learning experiences through AI integration, experiential and community-engaged learning and faculty development. She was awarded the Dale P. Parnell Faculty Distinction Recognition by the American Association of Community Colleges in 2022, a highly competitive national designation that honors faculty who are active in their students’ lives and in their colleges’ activities to ensure student success.

Hazel serves as co-chair for The BIG Read, the college-wide, year-long reading initiative that brings awareness to different perspectives through books and accompanying activities on campus in the surrounding communities. This year’s book is “A Field Guide to Climate Anxiety: How to Keep Your Cool on a Warming Planet” by author Sarah Jaquette Ray. Among the various activities will be an author visit to Owens in the spring.

In June, Somerville marked her fifth anniversary at the college as Owens completed its 60^th anniversary celebrations. She said those milestones demonstrate what has defined Owens for decades, especially the practical impact of an Owens education. The perspective led a group of Owens employees to create Owens Has Heart, an initiative designed to give greater visibility to the qualities and work that have long defined Owens.

“Owens Has Heart gives us a way to describe something that has been part of this college for more than 60 years,” Somerville said. “It’s reflected in how we welcome and support students, how we work with each other and how we serve our communities and regional employers. We’re giving greater visibility to our strengths that are uniquely Owens.”

Owens Has Heart will carry messaging across the institution, continuing to position Owens as a human-centered, mission-driven college. The initiative is organized around five pillars: Heart for Students, Heart for Teaching and Learning, Heart for Employees, Heart for Community and Heart for the Future.

The initiative launched during the address with a new video created by Toledo-based agency Madhouse Films, featuring an original score by Dream Louder Music of Toledo and narration by Owens student and spoken word artist Shelby Faulkner. The video features 30 Owens students, eight employees and two community members on screen.

“This doesn’t change what we’re doing. It reframes how we talk about what we’ve been doing for more than 60 years,” Somerville said.