Lee Richards
University Registrar
740-368-3200 | lprichards@owu.edu
As Ohio Wesleyan's University Registrar, Lee is tasked with creating a vision, leading strategic planning, ensuring proper record management, and reducing barriers to graduation. While overseeing the functions of an efficient, student-focused office, he identifies and implements innovative practices to continuously improve the quality and scope of the services we provide to our students, alumni, staff, and faculty.
Since 2004, Lee has worked in various roles in higher education, mostly in the context of graduate theological schools. This experience has ranged in roles from Admissions/Recruitment, to Registrar/Academic Services, Strategic Enrollment Management, Financial Aid, Institutional Research and Assessment, Information Technology, and a bit of classroom teaching on the side.
Lee earned a Bachelor of Arts in Classical Civilization from Bowling Green State University in 2000, followed by a Master of Divinity from Phoenix Seminary in 2010. He is a Doctoral Candidate (ABD) in the Ph.D. in Higher Education Administration at the University of Toledo.
"I believe that Higher Education Administration can be both a calling and a passion. My journey in this field began in 2004 as a means of paying for graduate school but over time evolved into a satisfying career. Ultimately, it has become something even more significant: a passion. This passion is rooted in my appreciation for efficiency, equity, and good order and from my corresponding dislike of bureaucratic systems that squander resources, perpetuate inequalities in access, and place unnecessary barriers between students and success. I am passionate about higher education administration because, when done well, it can transfuse our institutions with vitality and creativity." - Lee Richards