President's Blog

Realizing an Owens experience for everyone

At Owens Community College, it is our responsibility to ensure our diverse student body can complete their education in an environment where everyone can be successful. The recent Zoombombing that occurred during a reception for the Big Read demonstrates why we must continue our work to create a more inclusive community. The goal of the event is to bring awareness of different perspectives and cultures. Four individuals accessed the virtual portion and interrupted it with profanity and racial slurs. We cannot stay silent, particularly when such blatant incidents occur. This is not who we are. The Owens community has long prized equity, and we’ve worked hard to turn that passion into action.

Meaningful steps toward assuring inclusion include our Board of Trustees-approved equity statement and an audit commissioned by my predecessor, Interim President Dr. William K. Balzer, which engaged Bowling Green State University’s equity consulting team. This work led to a series of recommendations for what Owens could do to better incorporate justice, equity, diversity and inclusion (JEDI) considerations into the student experience, facilities access, human resources, fundraising and more.

In response to the consulting team’s feedback, we have created a JEDI task force to develop a strategic plan for equity and inclusion. This plan will help ensure we can fully serve everyone in our community, including potential students who might not find the way to an Owens education on their own. We have a great foundation of past efforts to build upon.

As part of our mission, Owens exists to foster student and community success by providing a high quality and affordable education. That is important, but that is not all. The entirety of our mission statement must not be overlooked. We want our students’ postsecondary experiences to lead to rewarding careers, personal growth, and regional economic strength.  Our success must be more than open enrollment and flexible scheduling.

Outcomes matter, on campus and beyond.  We will fail our community and its economy if all we can do is offer classes to students, some of whom may ultimately never complete their postsecondary goals. We must build an environment where every member of our service district can feel like they belong and thrive.

Wood County has less than 3 percent unemployment right now. That means people can find jobs, but without the right educational credentials it will be more difficult for them to secure positions that pay family-sustaining wages or create the socioeconomic mobility that community colleges were founded to provide.

Our forthcoming JEDI strategic plan will help change that, starting with tying our success to student outcomes and touching every area of the institution along the way.

To learn more and join us in this journey, visit our JEDI page on the Owens website.

Dione D. Somerville, Ed.D.
President