Indian River School District Personnel Director Michael Owens will leave the district at the end of this month and take a job with the Delaware Department of Education, he told the Coastal Point.
Owens will serve as the Associate Secretary of Education for Adult Education and Workforce Development under Secretary of Education Valerie Woodruff.
“It’s quite an honor,” Owens said of being offered the state job. “I’m thrilled to get asked to serve and I’m looking forward to new challenges.”
Owens, a 1978 Indian River graduate, was hired out of the private sector to be Indian River’s head of personnel more than four years ago.
“It was a great opportunity to come back here and be a part of a school district I grew up in and graduated from,” he said.
Woodruff’s office issued a statement late last week. “We’re very excited that Mike has agreed to come work for us,” the statement said. “We are looking forward to his contributions to the agency.”
After high school, Owens attended the University of Delaware, where, in 1982, he received a bachelor’s degree in sociology. In 1986, Owens then received a master’s of Education from what is now Salisbury University in Salisbury, Md. And in 1995, he completed his doctoral program at Wilmington College, where he received a doctorate in educational leadership.
Before being hired at Indian River, Owens worked as the human resources and training manager at Intervet Inc., an animal health pharmaceutical company. Owens has also taught, and continues to teach, personnel administration and “Education Ethics and the Law” at Wilmington College. He also teaches as a part of the human resources management doctoral program at Delaware State University in Dover, as well.
Owens said that his time at Indian River “was a great opportunity a few years ago to combine my human resources and education backgrounds. It’s been a wonderful experience.”
At the state department, Owens will replace Dr. Lewis Atkinson, a 35-year veteran of the department, who is joining Wilmington College’s staff to serve as a part of its doctoral educational leadership program.
As head of the adult education and workforce development branch, Owens will be responsible for seven adult-education community centers, prison education, programming in all comprehensive high schools, discipline, dropout prevention, driver’s education, the Delaware Interscholastic Athletic Association and more.
“We’re providing a direct service, as opposed to policy,” Atkinson said.
“I certainly will be faced with new challenges but I’m looking forward to moving on and being successful in the new role,” Owens said. “I’m still in a little bit of shock over being asked to serve.”