Owen Community College’s board of trustees unanimously voted to appoint 62-year-old Mike Bower as its sixth president.

Bower comes to the area from North Dakota where he served as president of Lake Region State College.

Bower

There, Bower expanded educational opportunities, secured $2.6 million for a wind turbine to support the green initiative and oversaw the unveiling of new academic programs including nursing, American sign language and interpretive studies, according to the March 13 news release.

His experience at Lake Region State brought to 17 the number of years Bower spent working as a faculty member of administrator in higher education. He previously worked in North Dakota, Michigan, Wisconsin, Nebraska and Indiana.

Bower also worked in the business industry for 19 years, with Ford Motor Company and Thomson Consumer Electrics.

The Board of Trustees announced a national search for a president last year to fill President Larry McDougle’s position. He retired Sept. 30. Bower will start July 1, following Vice President of Finance and Administration John Satkowski’s interim president term. Both the Board of Trustees and Bower agreed to a three-year contract.

Bower will be the sixth president in the college’s 47-year history.

Owens offers associate degrees in Arts and Sciences and more than 130 technical programs.

Tags: Mike Bower, Owens, Owens Community, Owens Community College, president

This entry was posted on Tuesday, March 13th, 2012 at 2:34 pm and is filed under Community, Education.
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