Staff Excellence Award: Amy Owens

Amy Owens was very excited to receive her staff excellence award from the Robert H. Smith School of Business earlier this year (Spring 2010). Owens works as an admissions coordinator in the MBA/MS Admissions Office and says she finds her job to be extremely rewarding.

She started at the University of Maryland, College Park, about 22 years ago, working in the radio, television and film department – a department that no longer exists at the university.

“I’ve been at Smith for 13 years now,” Owens said. “I just like the community at Smith. The coworkers I have here are great. Everybody is so warm and helpful.”

Owens said she and her coworkers are so familiar with each other that they can guess each other’s next move.

 “We keep each other’s backs. We have big mailings that go out and then we have admission letters,” she explained. “I like that we know each other’s moves. I really do enjoy coming to work.”

She also loves working with prospective and applicant MBA/MS students because they come from all different backgrounds and cultures: “I deal with students from all over the world. One of the comments that Dean Anand had made is that I answer e-mails at four in the morning – Which is true, I sometimes do. I try to have a response to students within 24 hours if I can.”

While she lives in Bladensburg and calls Maryland her home, Owens grew up in Central City, Penn., a town so small that “if you close your eyes or you blink, you miss it.” She finds joy in hearing about what life is like in different parts of the world and tries to be there for students who are traveling far from their families and friends to attend school in America.

“You are coming to a whole new culture and a whole new country. There is a lot of apprehension … because a lot of them are leaving their families there. That’s what’s really tough,” she said.

Owens isn’t the only Terp in her family, nor is she the only Smith School Terp. Her husband, Harold “Tuck” Owens, works in the physics department and has worked at the university for 27 years. Her son, Harold Owens, works for Smith IT while he is going to school.

Owens is also going to school while working at the Smith School. She will be getting her bachelor’s degree in business and management with a minor in human resource in the spring of 2011.

And like a true Terp, Owens said she loves Testudo: “I always touch Testudo, every time I go by – especially if I have a final exam,” she said, adding that she is current taking classes at the University of Maryland, University College. “With taking classes at University College, we take exams in the Cole Field House” so I have to walk past Testudo.

In her free time, Owens enjoys watching her favorite movie, "Gone with the Wind."

“I’m a huge 'Gone with the Wind' fan. I have two big plate collections from 'Gone with the Wind' and a movie poster and a bunch of dolls. I love that movie.”

Jessica Bauer, Writer and Editor, Office of Marketing Communications