Three Faculty/Staff Members Honored as Tri-County's Educators of the Year

PENDLETON, SC – January 26, 2011 – Three faculty/staff members have been honored as Tri-County TechnicalCollege’s Educators of the Year and will be recognized at the South CarolinaTechnical Education Association (SCTEA) meeting in February. 

Dr. GwenOwens, dean of the Arts and Sciences Division, is the College’s outstandingadministrator; Chris Worthy, head of the Comprehensive Studies Department, isthe outstanding instructor; and, Linda Crowe, administrative assistant for the Comprehensive Studies and SocialScience departments in the Arts and Sciences Division, is theoutstanding staff nominee.

SCTEA is a professional association of technical educationpersonnel and others interested in post-secondary technical education.

Dr. Owens joined Tri-CountyTechnical College in 1992 as Developmental Reading department head after 19years of teaching at Wren and Powdersville middle schools in Anderson CountySchool District One.

Over theyears she has served in the roles ofinstructor, department head, Comprehensive Studies Division chair and currentlyas dean of the Arts and Sciences Division.

In addition to her administrative roles, Dr.Owens is academic coach for the Call Me MISTER initiative at Tri-County.  Developed by Clemson University, Call MeMISTER is a scholarship program designed to meet the shortage of AfricanAmerican male teachers in South Carolina’s elementary schools.  Through the program, black males arerecruited, trained, and certified to become elementary teachers in S.C.’spublic schools.  Dr. Owens also serves onTri-County’s Access and Equity Advisory Committee where she explores and recommendsways for recruiting more blacks and improving the retention of black students.

Dr. Owens has won numerous honorsand awards, including the Johnnie Ruth Clark Award for Excellence in CommunityCollege Instruction and was the College’s first finalist for the Governor’sProfessor of the Year Award.  In1995 she received the highest award presented to faculty, the PresidentialMedallion for Instructional Excellence, at the commencement.   TheSouth Carolina Association for Developmental Education presented her with theOutstanding Service to Students Award at the organization’s 2005 conference.

In 1999 she was named Administrator of the Year at theannual South Carolina Technical Education Association conference and has servedas president of the S.C. Association for Developmental Educators.  Currently she serves as chair of the Arts and Sciences Peer Group for the S.C.Technical College System. 

In 1993,Mrs. Owens and her family were named the National Black Family of theYear.  They were chosen from more than100 families across the United States and were honored at the National BlackFamily Summit in Columbia. The family was nominated by Dr. Jimmy Johnson,former principal of Wren High School.

She is also very active in thecommunity through her involvement with service organizations. She served on theAnderson County Board of Literacy Volunteers from 2000 through 2007. Through aservice sorority, Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Inc., she has been involved withHospice of the Upstate, Meals on Wheels, American Cancer Society, SunshineHouse, Soup Kitchen, AIM, March of Dimes, Clean Start, UNCF, scholarships forstudents, tutoring and reading programs for families, and an adoptedfamily.  She was awarded Kappa Alpha PsiFraternity’s Community Service Award.

Dr. Owens worships and serves at Mt.Able Baptist Church.  She is a SundaySchool teacher, a deaconess and president of the Missionary Society.  She also sings in the gospel choir.

The Mullinsnative received a B.S. in elementary education from Clark College, an M.Ed. inreading from Clemson University and an Ed.D. in Educational Administration fromSouth Carolina State University.   

She and her husband, Bobby, havethree adult children and three grandchildren. They live in Pelzer.

Mrs. Worthyjoined the College in 2001 as a math instructor for the Comprehensive StudiesDivision after working for three years as an adjunct for that department.

She was named head of theComprehensive Studies Department in 2006 after serving as interim departmenthead, working closely with other department heads in Arts and Sciences, as wellas the Gateway to College staff.

She and her husband moved to Senecafrom Dallas, Texas, where she worked as an instructional associate at El CentroCollege.  Prior to that she was a mathinstructor for services to students with disabilities at the California StateUniversity of Sacramento. She holds a B.S. in Mathematics from Marietta Collegein Marietta, Ohio, and a master of education degree from the University ofVirginia.  She and her husband, Don, livein Seneca and have two adult daughters. 

Mrs. Crowe is a 24-year employee ofthe College, joining in 1986 as the secretary for the Comprehensive StudiesDivision and now serving as an administrative assistant for the ComprehensiveStudies and social science departments in the Arts and Sciences Division.

She is a 1986 graduate ofTri-County’s Secretarial Science (now Automated Office Technology) program andcurrently is pursuing an associate in Arts degree.  Over the years she has served as secretaryfor the Instructional Affairs Committee, the ASSET placement criteria andprocedure work groups and for the Faculty Senate.  She was treasurer and secretary forTri-County’s chapter of the International Association of AdministrativeProfessionals organization.  She isactive in missionary work on the Cherokee Indian Reservation in Cherokee, NC.

She and her husband, Joe, aremembers of Village Creek Church in Mountain Rest.  They have two adult daughters, Loretta andTina, and three grandchildren, Bowdy, 14; Feather, 12; and Dodge, 11.  Mrs. Crowe and her family live in Walhalla.