Communiqué
WOUB Member Spotlight: Thom and Edie Luce
< < Back toThe Luces have been members of WOUB since 1987
ATHENS, OH – When Thom and Edie Luce were considering leaving Texas in 1987, one of the criteria they had for their new hometown was that it had to have a strong public radio station.
“At the time, A Prairie Home Companion was one of our go-to programs,” said Thom. “We’d build our schedule on the weekends around the show. So, wherever we moved had to have it available to us.”
Thom has an A.B. in bacteriology from Ohio Wesleyan University, an M.S. in molecular biology from Purdue University and a Ph.D. in science education from Purdue. After Thom completed his graduate studies, they moved to West Texas where Thom taught biology at Midland College for two years and then went to work for a small company working with computers. Thom then spent eight years teaching electronic data processing and computer information systems at Odessa College in Odessa, Texas before being offered a faculty position at Ohio University in what was then called the Management Information Systems (MIS) Department. And after learning about WOUB and the other wonderful things Athens had to offer, he accepted.
Edie eventually accepted a position with the university as well. She is a library support specialist with the Ohio University Libraries. She started in technical services, moved to the Center for International Studies (CIS) and currently works in public services.
“Athens is exactly what we like,” said Thom. “We never wanted to live in the big city. From the very time we got here, we just loved the environment.”
Thom has served as a visiting professor at the Institute Technology MARA (ITM) (now known as UiTM – the UniversitI Teknologi MARA) in Malaysia, Chubu University in Japan and spent almost three years as the on-site MBA coordinator for the Ohio University College of Business at ITM in Malaysia. He also taught several times in College of Business MBA programs in Bangalore, India and served as a member of the instructional delivery team for two intakes of the Ohio University MBA Without Boundaries (MBA-WB) program. Thom has published several textbooks and was an instructor numerous times at the National Computer Educators Institute. His research interests are primarily in the areas of MIS education and the use of technology to improve business education.
“We really love to travel and particularly enjoyed our time in Malaysia,” said Thom. “We loved the food and people there. And being in a predominantly Muslim country for that length of time gives you a perspective on that culture that others in the United State just don’t have.”
The Luces have been financial supporters of WOUB since almost the minute they arrived in Athens. They enjoy the news programs, as well as the entertainment programming.
“Our hobbies include cooking and photography,” said Luce. “And we can hear about those kinds of things on WOUB, plus news and information from around the world. I really think that NPR is even-handed in what they present. I also really like the Bluegrass programming on Sundays. When we lived in Texas, we went to Bluegrass concerts. It’s so nice that WOUB puts that on.”
The Luces are also strong supporters of the Ohio University Credit Union. Thom has been on the board for 18 years. Thom and Edie are retiring this June and have a trip to Italy planned this summer.