Dr. Debbie Owens has been appointed interim chair in the Department of Journalism and Mass Communications.
Owens has more than 20 years of experience in academe. She joined the Murray State University faculty in 2002.
Professor Owens recently served as graduate program coordinator for the department and had been instrumental in development and assessment of the master’s degree program since she took on that role in 2011.
Owens has held numerous leadership positions throughout her tenure in JMC, including JMC Electronic Media sequence head, and ad-hoc curriculum development committees.
Owens has represented the Arthur J. Bauernfeind College of Business as a Writing across the Curriculum Ambassador, which involved collaborating with JMC faculty on departmental writing assessments and contribution to the Senate Bill-1 Faculty Online Writing Handbook. She has served on numerous committees at Murray State, including the president’s and provost’s searches, faculty development, graduate programs, college and university tenure committees, and the Jesse Stuart Fellowship selection committee.
Dr. Owens previously served as graduate program director, internship coordinator, sequence head for the electronic media majors, coordinator of the student editorial advisory board for MSU-TV 11, and as co-advisor for MSU’s chapter of the National Broadcasting Society/Alpha Epsilon Rho.
She belongs to several academic honor societies, including Alpha Epsilon Rho, Kappa Tau Alpha, and Phi Kappa Phi.