Ken Owen '82 to Honor 2017's 'Indy PR Legend'

April 3, 2017

Ken Owen, executive director of media relations at DePauw and 1982 graduate of the University, will serve as master of ceremonies as the Indianapolis Public Relations Society honors Bob Dittmer as the 2017 Indy PR Legend.   Dittmer, who has served more than 30 years as a public relations and communications professional and educator, will be recognized at an April 19 luncheon meeting at Christ Church Cathedral on Monument Circle in Indianapolis.

The Indianapolis Public Relations Society, formed in 1949, is a limited membership organization comprised of senior level public relations personnel. Owen is a member and has served on the IPRS board of directors.

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A 1982 graduate of DePauw, Ken Owen returned to his alma mater (where he was a communication major and Rector Scholar) in 2001 after two decades in TV news. Along with his responsibilities to raise the University's external visibility, he coordinates the Timothy and Sharon Ubben Lecture Series and the annual Monon Bell telecast.  Owen regularly appears as a media spokesman for DePauw and as a source for stories (he was interviewed on Fox News Channel October 1) and has moderated two televised Indiana debates, most recently leading the October 2016 U.S. Senate debate, which aired live nationally on C-SPAN. 

Owen's efforts to make pieces of DePauw's past more relevant and accessible include the restoration of a 1941 admission film, and he has created "Monon Memories" of every football game between DePauw and Wabash College for the Monon Bell since the rivalry began in 1890. The video vignettes were the subject of features in the Chronicle of Higher Education and during HDNet's telecast of the 115th Monon Bell Classic in November 2008.

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