Clyde Owan has been a lifelong advocate and volunteer for Oberlin athletics. He has been generous with his time and talent, serving in almost every volunteer role the Oberlin Alumni Association has to offer, including regional coordinator and regional representative. He served on various steering committees and is currently a member of the National Campaign Steering Committee for the Oberlin Illuminate Campaign. As a former President of the Alumni Association, Clyde served on the Alumni Executive Board in multiple capacities.
He was selected as Treasurer of the Alumni Association from 1996 to 2000, and later served as President from 2001 to 2003. As President, he guided the Association into the era of electronic communications and shifted its communications into the world of email. He has also played a pivotal role in the strengthening Oberlin College as a member of the Trustee Search Committee and the Admissions Advisory Committee.
As an extraordinarily active alumnus, Clyde served as a trustee of the Oberlin Shansi organization, and initiated a project to document and honor the experiences of Japanese American students who left World War II internment camps and were welcomed to study at Oberlin College. As Alumni President, Clyde used the occasion of a special Oberlin 9/11 publication to highlight the racial hysteria of World War II and warn against a similar rush towards demonizing and scapegoating. His photography has been published in multiple college publications, and he established an endowed scholarship to strengthen Oberlin’s accessibility.
Clyde received a Bachelor of Arts in government from Oberlin in 1979 and holds a Master of Science in Foreign Service degree from the School of Foreign Service at Georgetown University. He also holds a Master of Arts from U.S. Naval War College in Newport, Rhode Island. He has had a distinguished career in public service that including assigments with the Department of the Navy, the Department of Defense, the Department of Homeland Security, and the National Intelligence Council.
