CREDIT: COURTESY OF FANSHAWE COLLEGE
From left: David Agnew, Chair of Council of Presidents and President of Seneca; Dr. Howard Rundle, Fanshawe College President Emeritus; Hon. Reza Moridi, Minister of Training, Colleges and Universities and Linda Franklin, CEO of Colleges Ontario.

Former Fanshawe College president Howard Rundle was awarded the 2015 Lifetime Achievement Award on November 25 by the Ontario Ministry of Training, Colleges and Universities.

The award is presented each year to someone who has “demonstrated exceptional leadership and promoted excellence within the province›s college system,” according to the Ontario government website.

“Special – I felt quite honoured,” Rundle said about his achievement. “As a president, there’s nothing you do all by yourself. It’s always other people that are really doing most of the work, and so ... if you have people that are dedicated as we do at Fanshawe, then it›s not that hard to accomplish things.”

Rundle started his career at Fanshawe in 1972 as director of planning and development. Trained in physical chemistry – he holds a PhD from the University of Toronto – Rundle was looking for a teaching job.

He worked at the University of Pittsburgh and York University, but he says universities back then were more interested in research than teaching.

“I saw an ad for a job at Fanshawe College, and I applied for it,” he said. “I was in the United States when the community colleges were created in 1967. So when I saw this ad, I didn’t know what they were, but I knew I really liked teaching.”

Rundle didn’t get the job he applied for, which was for chair of the math and science department.

But he got a call from Fanshawe the next week to meet with the president – would he instead be interested in being the director of planning and development, he asked Rundle.

Oh, and the job would allow him to teach along with his duties as director of planning and development.

“That sounded pretty interesting,” Rundle said. “I wasn’t sure exactly what it was, but I did it, and I found that because it was a new job, I was able to kind of shape the job myself, which was a lot of fun.”

Since then, Rundle’s held various posts at Fanshawe, including director of student learning resources, dean of health sciences and vice-president of academic.

He became president in late 1995 until his retirement in August of last year, making him the school’s longest- serving president.

“I really liked the vice-president of academic job,” he said. “I thought that was going to be my favourite job, and I’d just stay doing that until I retired.”

But the president went away on sabbatical one year and asked Rundle to fill in for him.

“The job of president was different,” he said. “I found I really enjoyed it. It takes you out into the community a whole lot more … I found I really enjoyed the London community and the people in London, and I got to meet them and work with them, and so I decided I did like that.”

He says one of his proudest achievements as president was the development of the downtown campus.

“I cannot think of a more deserving person than Howard Rundle for this award,” said current Fanshawe President Peter Devlin. “His leadership and commitment have helped shape Fanshawe College and the entire college system. We would not be where we are today without his vision.”