LITTLE ROCK — Arkansas Department of Education Commissioner Johnny Key is pleased to announce that Dr. Jeremy Owoh has been named the assistant commissioner of Educator Effectiveness and Licensure. Owoh replaces Dr. Ivy Pfeffer, who was named ADE’s deputy commissioner effective July 1. 

“Dr. Owoh has an extensive background in K-12 education and experience in higher education,” Key said. “He brings 14 years of experience as a teacher, dean of students and administrator, having worked in numerous central Arkansas schools. The leadership team at ADE is excited to work with Dr. Owoh as we transform Arkansas to lead the nation in student-focused education.”

Owoh began his career in 2003 as an English teacher at Parkview Magnet High School in the Little Rock School District. He served as the dean of students at Mills University Studies High School in the Pulaski County Special School District from 2008 to 2009 prior to being named the assistant principal at Ridgeroad Middle School in the North Little Rock School District. 

He served as the principal at Fuller Middle School in the Pulaski County Special School District before being named principal at J.A. Fair Systems Magnet High School in the Little Rock School District in 2011. Owoh has been the assistant superintendent of curriculum/instruction and desegregation at Jacksonville North Pulaski School District since 2015.

In addition to his experience in public schools, Owoh has served as an adjunct instructor/professor for Pulaski Technical College at North Little Rock and Shorter College at North Little Rock, as well as an affiliate faculty member at Arkansas Tech University at Russellville and the University of Arkansas at Little Rock. 

Owoh holds a Bachelor of English Education with a concentration in Secondary Education from the University of Central Arkansas at Conway; a Master of Secondary Education with concentrations in Reading and Writing from the University of Arkansas at Little Rock; an Educational Specialist degree in Educational Administration from the University of Arkansas at Little Rock; and a Doctorate of Education in Educational Administration and Supervision from the University of Arkansas at Little Rock. He also completed the Little Rock School District Leadership Academy in 2010.

Owoh is a member of numerous professional and community organizations, including the Arkansas Association of Educational Administrators, National Alliance of Black School Educators, Junior Achievement of Arkansas and Goodwill Industries of Arkansas. Gov. Asa Hutchinson appointed Owoh to the Desegregation Litigation Oversight Subcommittee in 2015.