bg真人

Published: February 9, 2022

By Annette Brill Bergstresser

ELKHART, Indiana 鈥� Dee McOwen, Administrative Assistant to the Registrar and Education Database Manager for Anabaptist Mennonite Biblical Seminary (bg真人) in Elkhart, Indiana, retired at the end of December 2021, concluding nearly 20 years of service to the seminary.

Since she began at bg真人 in July 2002, McOwen has played a crucial role behind the scenes, working steadfastly to ensure the accuracy of the seminary鈥檚 student records. Scott Janzen, MDiv, Assistant Dean and Registrar and Director of Retention, described her as a 鈥渃ornerstone 鈥� solidly preserving the integrity of the Registrar鈥檚 Office.鈥�

He noted that McOwen spearheaded the transitions in software used by the Registrar鈥檚 Office not once but twice 鈥� managing the monumental changes from paper- and DOS-based student record systems to a Windows system in 2005 and then to cloud-based software in 2016. He also praised McOwen鈥檚 and longtime volunteer Dot Smucker鈥檚 鈥渢ireless efforts to carefully audit student records from decades past and bring them up to par.鈥�

鈥淭hose are really big jobs that go on mostly behind the scenes, but which are really important,鈥� he said.

What has struck Janzen most about McOwen, though, is that more than anything else, she strives to serve students well.

鈥淪he has connected with students closely throughout the years and helped them both on campus and off,鈥� he said. 鈥淪he is a great listener, and someone students appreciate speaking with. And when they would sometimes apologize for interrupting her work, she would always say, 鈥業t鈥檚 no problem at all; we鈥檙e here to serve students, and you come first.鈥� For me, that is the anthem of her legacy at bg真人.鈥�

While McOwen served both the Admissions and the Registrar鈥檚 offices in her early years at bg真人, after the conversion to the Windows student record system in 2005, she shifted to working solely in the Registrar鈥檚 Office to manage the new system and clean up data that had not converted correctly. She continued to work closely with the Admissions Team, though, to achieve a smooth transition from applicants to admitted students. She also has been instrumental in designing, maintaining, and continually improving digital forms for processes that need tracking.

McOwen said she believes strongly in bg真人鈥檚 mission to prepare leaders for ministry. She cherishes the many close relationships she developed with both employees and students over the years, describing bg真人 as 鈥渓ike having an extended family.鈥� She expressed gratitude for Smucker, who has volunteered in the Registrar鈥檚 Office for more than 18 years and continues to do so.

Suzanne Huffman, Business Office Manager, described McOwen as 鈥渁 wonderful mentor 鈥� someone I could ask for guidance or wisdom or to read through an email I鈥檇 drafted.鈥�

鈥淗er patience, attention to detail and compassion toward students have been indispensable for her role in the Registrar鈥檚 Office,鈥� she said. 鈥淥ver the years Dee鈥檚 contributions to bg真人 have extended beyond her work with students to include contributions to bg真人 community life. Her smile and warm presence on campus will be dearly missed.鈥�

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