Meet Your OCC Family

LISA WITTE: A DECISION THAT CHANGED EVERYTHING “Originally, I wasn’t going to attend OCC,” says now-Director of Academic Operations Lisa Witte, “but my mom convinced me to go to Ozark so that Woody Wilkinson could keep an eye on me.”

Wilkinson had ministered at Lisa’s home church before he joined the OCC faculty in 1993. Lisa consented, and that decision changed everything.

“No regrets!” she says. “Bob followed me to Ozark,” she recalls of her high school sweetheart, “...which is why my mom wanted Woody to keep an eye on me.” Growing up in St. Louis, Missouri, Lisa lived in only one home from childhood to college. In adulthood, she has lived 14 houses in five different states—Missouri, Oklahoma, Oregon, Arizona, and Indiana. Lisa worked in the campus bookstore during her student years at Ozark. After graduating in 1999, she went on to work for Enterprise Rent-a-Car, as a marketing and database administrator for a consulting company, as an event coordinator at the Rose Hulman Institute of Technology, as the finance secretary at a church, and as a stay-at-home mom to the Wittes’ two sons, Josh and Caleb. Lisa also served alongside her husband in vocational ministry.

The Wittes returned to Joplin in 2011. Lisa worked as the college events coordinator before moving to the Academics Office, where she now serves as director of academic operations. Bob is the vice president of enrollment management at OCC. The Wittes have hosted two high school international exchange students and many Ozark students in their home, providing the same watchful care to today’s Ambassadors that Woody Wilkinson once gave them.

When she’s not working at Ozark, Lisa enjoys sleeping in on Saturdays, drinking coffee, doing jigsaw puzzles, watching true crime shows like Dateline, and cuddling with her puppy, Zeke.

“In Scripture, I always enjoy reading the book of James,” Lisa says. “It’s a very practical, straight-forward book.”

“I enjoy listening to a wide variety of music, but 80s and 90s alternative is what’s most often on my playlist. It’s a common occurrence for me to perform concerts in my car,” Lisa admits. “I may bust out a few dance moves if the music hits me right!”