Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: WEDNESDAY, October 18, 1995 TAG: 9510180038
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: C-1 EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY
SOURCE: ALLISON BLAKE STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
This week, he officially decided to pick up where he left off that day, planning a business. Owens will retire June 30 and move back to New England to launch a new company with his son and a colleague.
``As you get to be 60 years old and you begin to have had a number of experiences that are learning experiences, you put it together and ask, `What do I want to do in the next five, 10, 15 years?''' said Owens, Radford University's vice president for academic affairs since 1989.
``All of these things have an influence.''
Owens returned to his post as the school's chief academic officer in June, when Douglas Covington became president. By Dec. 15, Owens should know if Covington is honoring his request to receive additional benefits from the state's Workforce Transition Act.
In a memo Tuesday, Covington accepted Owens' departure ``with regret ... for he has proven to be an effective chief academic officer and a valuable member of the university's leadership team.''
Covington also said he will meet with the board of visitors and the executive council of the Faculty Senate to start talking about replacing Owens.
Owens' new business will be to develop and distribute instructional materials about chemicals used by people in ``the so-called green industry,'' he said.
``The experience at Radford has been a good experience and a learning experience. I've reached a point in my career, if you will, where I think it's time to make a change,'' he said.
During Owens' year, work on a university restructuring plan faltered, threatening $1.6 million in state funding that eventually was paid. Also, the New College of Global Studies died after Gov. George Allen zeroed out its new funding.
But Owens says he's leaving because he wants to: ``It's a decision I'm making for my own satisfaction,'' he said.
Owens, who taught at the University of New Hampshire for 26 years, and his wife, Barbara, will live in either Maine or New Hampshire.
by CNB