PERRYSBURG – The Owens Community College president has been given a contract extension and a raise.
The college’s board of trustees on June 6 awarded Dione Somerville a three-year contract extension, effective July 1, and gave her a 3.4% increase in her base salary.
“We have full confidence in your leadership,” said board Chair Sherina Ohanian after an hour-long executive session. “The board is pleased with the momentum the college is gaining in exploring the needs of current and prospective students.”
The board also is pleased with the plans for an expanded nursing and health professions facility, and the collaboration with Bowling Green State University and the University of Findlay in the development for the Center for Advanced Manufacturing and Logistics in Findlay, she said.
“It’s a team effort and I think we have a wonderful team and wonderful faculty and staff here at Owens,” Somerville said. “It is a pleasure and an honor to be in this role.”
She also was given a 3% increase to her base salary after a performance review in June 2022.
Her new salary will increase to $228,979 from $221,450.
Somerville began her 28-year career in higher education as the assistant director of campus programming at Ursuline College in Pepper Pike, before taking leadership positions at the Ohio College of Podiatric Medicine, Lorain County Community College, Iowa State University, Bloomsburg University and Hawkeye Community College.
She had been executive vice president at Hawkeye Community College in Iowa since August 2020.
She earned a doctorate in Higher Education Management from the University of Pennsylvania, a master’s degree in College Student Personnel from Bowling Green State University, and a bachelor’s degree in English/Writing from Ohio Northern University.
She will start her third year at Owens on June 15.
Being president at Owens is everything she had hoped for and more, Somerville said.
“I think we have a wonderful team and a great institution and the board investing in a three-year contract is symbolic of the stability that we need at Owens,” she said.
There are big plans relating to enrollment, making sure Owens is a community of belonging, both on and off campus, renovating the school of nursing and health professions, and staying a workforce development model, she said.
The college will soon start a study of the feasibility of having a physical location in Toledo, she said.
Last month,
The Owens Community College faculty association has taken a non-confidence vote in college leadership.
In a May 17 vote, 86% of the members of the Owens Faculty Association voted no confidence in the board of trustees, Somerville and Jeff Ganues, the vice president of business affairs and chief financial officer,
In other business at the June meeting, the trustees increased tuition, starting with the fall semester.
The $5 per credit hour increase for in-state tuition will take the cost to $188 from $183.
Out-of-state tuition will increase to $376 from $366.
The additional cost is expected to generate $229,888 in new revenue this fall, according to Ganues.
Somerville said that enrollment for this summer has surpassed forecasted goals as the June 14 census date neared.
New students are up 64 over the forecast, and up 50 from this time last year.
Continuing students numbers are up 232 over the forecast and 68 over last year.
Overall, including College Credit Plus students, the summer enrollment is at 510 over the forecast and 319 more than last year.
Fall enrollment also continues to build, Somerville said.
Increases in enrollment can be attributed to advisers who are reaching out to students, and the robust efforts in marketing, she said.
“The pandemic is in a different phase, the job market is changing, there’s lots of things like that that are probably all contributing, but no small part of it has to do with our people and them making an effort to ensure that students are enrolling,” Somerville said.
Also at the meeting, the trustees:
• Promoted to the rank of professor both Robert Ticherich, an instructor in the Music Business Technology Program, and Sarah Long, in the Department of Mathematics
• Awarded a $222,698 contract to Lake Erie Technologies, Bowling Green, to complete electronic access to doors on both campuses. The college is using local funds and a campus safety grant from the Ohio Department of Higher Education.
• Approved spending no more than $220,000 for repairs and renovations of the burn tower located at the Center for Emergency Preparedness.
“If we’re not able to do this renovation, we cannot operate the burn tower,” Somerville said.
• Passed a resolution to use bond proceeds, state and local funding not to exceed $31.1 million for the renovations/improvements and purchases of instructional/lab/general equipment for the School of Nursing and Health Professionals capital project.
• Learned that Owens will be Ohio’s first community college featured on the “College Tour” TV series that airs on 28 streaming services. Production crews will be filming on campus from July 31-Aug. 4 with the 30-minute episode premiering in November.
