Mountain State Administrator Receives International Award

Although rare, the popular misconception is that lightening never strikes the same place twice. An equally uncommon situation has recently occurred with a Mountain State University administrator. Dr. James M. Owston, a senior academic officer in distance education, received word that his doctoral dissertation has won its second outstanding research award.   While less than one percent of the population receives a research doctorate, very few individuals are honored with one dissertation award let alone two.

Owston’s doctoral dissertation is the 2009 winner of the Alice L. Beeman Dissertation Award for Outstanding Research in Communications and Marketing for Educational Advancement.   This international award centers on the research facets of marketing, public relations, government relations, issues management, and institutional image enhancement – Owston’s work documented each of these marketing areas relating to the rebranding of colleges as universities.

Sponsored by the Council for Advancement and Support of Education (CASE), the award was named for CASE’s first president, Alice L. Beeman. Considered a trailblazer in the field of educational marketing, Beeman was the first woman president of any major educational organization located within the United States.   Although based in Washington, DC, CASE has a multinational membership. The organization supports over 3,400 institutions in 61 countries. The international recognition afforded to this award makes it a coveted prize for many researching educational marketing issues. It is also one of the few such awards that includes a cash prize.

Owston’s dissertation, “Survival of the Fittest?  The Rebranding of West Virginia Higher Education,” was completed in the leadership studies program at Marshall University in November 2007. While centering on the on the successes and pitfalls of institutional rebranding strategies at 11 West Virginia institutions, the work drew upon original research of over 160 rebranded colleges and universities in the United States. 

While the scope of the dissertation extended beyond the borders of the Mountain State, Owston vacillated on whether to include West Virginia in the dissertation’s title, as any geographic designation might limit its exposure.  Ultimately, these fears have proven to be unfounded. Additionally, the dissertation’s corresponding website has received visitors from 41 nations who have searched the Internet for a variety of topics relating to institutional rebranding strategies.  

The dissertation’s overall acceptance by researchers may be based on its unconventional approach. Rather than adhering to a standard dissertation format, Owston’s project has thematic chapters based upon the research results. It also used a multiplicity of methods where a standard researcher might use one or two methods of inquiry. Both approaches were credited to his receiving his initial award last year from the American Association of University Administrators.

According AAUA awards chair, Dr. Jerome L. Neuner, Owston became a finalist largely because of the “multiple methodologies underlying his work including the use of statistical, ethnographic, and case study methods.” “The breadth of his inquiry made it necessary for him to frame questions in different formats and seek answers with different tools.” Last year, Owston received the 2008 Leo and Margaret Goodman-Malamuth Outstanding Dissertation Award for Research in Higher Educational Administration.  

The adoption of an atypical format and the use of multiple methods were not accidental. Owston’s dissertation chair at Marshall, Dr. Barbara L. Nicholson, channeled him in both directions. According to Owston, “Dr. Nicholson was the catalyst behind any success that I may have achieved. She pushed me towards excellence and I hope I lived up to her expectations.   While many of my fellow students and colleagues chided me for the amount of research that I had conducted and the unusually large end result, mediocrity was never an option.  If my name was going to be on it, I wanted to do the most outstanding and most thorough job that I could do, even if it meant delaying when I would eventually graduate – which it ultimately did.” With 700 pages of narrative, Owston’s dissertation is just shy of 1,100 pages in total length. 

Currently, Owston is a distance learning administrator at Mountain State University and teaches undergraduate and graduate communication and media classes. In addition to these duties, he serves on the school’s institutional review board and assessment committee. He also is a board member of the Friends of West Virginia Public Broadcasting.