When School Calls You Back

Chris Owens
Age: 52
Attended: Hamline University
Program of study: Master in Public Administration
Lives: St. Louis Park
Fun fact: Went back to school at the same time that one of her daughters was in college.

When some people think of retirement, they imagine golf courses, leisurely travel, and grand gardening plans. But Chris Owens had a different vision.

Having worked in the corrections field for more than twenty years, she’d grown passionate about the work, but had seen others burn out when trying to extend their careers into retirement. She decided to try a different tack and prepare for a career in teaching.

Owens graduated from the University of Minnesota in 1981 with a bachelor’s degree in psychology and  began working as a correctional officer. Professionally, she moved from that role to juvenile probation officer and then assistant superintendent at the Hennepin County Juvenile Detention Center. Along the way, she got married and had twins.

When a promotion to director of juvenile probation and a fiftieth birthday coincided, it prompted Owens to think about what she would do when she was eligible to retire at age fifty-nine. “I wanted to do something different,” she says. “I’ve always wanted to teach, but you need a master’s degree for that.”

Owens looked at both online universities and at more traditional classroom-based programs before deciding on Hamline University’s master in public administration, which suited her interest in blending career and family with school. The two-year accelerated program, which she completed last May, met one night a week  and featured a cohort model that meant she would get to know her classmates well.

She was about fifteen years older than most of her fellow students, but she loved the mix and was surprised to find that school was a bit easier than she thought it would be. “There were some really daunting topics, like finance, but once I was in the class, I realized that I knew more than I thought,” she says.

The happy surprise of tapping into existing knowledge didn’t mean the experience was without challenges. On her first night of class, Owens sat in the parking lot at Hamline and called her husband. “I told him that I thought I was going to throw up; I was that nervous and scared,” she says. “It had been twenty years since I’d written a paper or taken notes, and I didn’t know if I could get back in the academic mindset.”

The walk from the parking lot to the classroom that night may have been a long one, but it was the start of a journey Owens appreciates for both its immediate rewards and the ones ahead. “Absolutely the best thing I ever did for my career was going back to school,” she says. “It fit perfectly with what I want to do with my life.”