Fanshawe's growth spans over four decades
The college's expansion plan includes a third student residence
As one of the provinces founding colleges, Fanshawe can boast a long and colourful history that's seen it grow extensively in both size and respect.
Dr. Howard Rundle, Fanshawe's president, has been in a perfect position to see these changes first hand since he started working at the college in the early 1970's.
“There's an interesting way for people who can't remember the year they started [working here] to do so,” Rundle explained. “For people who can't remember the year, think of the building with the highest letter designation.”
Since its inaugural year, 1967, the college has designated buildings in ascending alphabetical order, with the exception of ‘A' building, which opened during the college's sophomore year. For Rundle, his first year with Fanshawe coincided with the year that ‘D' building was opened, 1972.
“The foundation then was business and technology,” Rundle said of the college 40 years ago. “And the first things that were added were what were then called ‘Applied Arts Programs.' Programs in human services, media studies and design- you might say that they were non-scientific skills; but skills were added in the mid-seventies.”
But what defined the college then isn't what defines it today, according to Rundle. Though those programs remain, he believes that it's the college's ability to avoid having just one main expertise that's helped it to flourish.
“Fanshawe College doesn't have a main program now,” said Rundle. “Many colleges do, and that's saying that many colleges orient itself and it's programming to the economy of the local community because they're providing the skilled labour for that community.
“But what is the main industry in London? There isn't one: there's everything. There's health, business, technology and manufacturing, so it means the college itself is quite comprehensive because we supply the skilled labour.”
“The business industry and the community have needed different kinds of practitioners,” said Joy Warkentin, who joined Fanshawe in 2000 as VP of Academic. “Some of the careers we are seeing now won't exist in a few years, so we've got lots of new programs that we may not have seen as a career in the past.”
“When I came there were 8,000 students,” Warkentin continued. “Now full-time students are around 15,000, so really its been marked by a period of quite significant growth.”
But beyond the population growth, Warkentin believes that the past ten years have also been defined by the changes that have taken place on campus, not just in the new buildings, but in the way the older buildings have been altered.
“When I came there wasn't a classroom I could see in,” Warkentin explained. “There are now windows into the classrooms so you can see learning happening.
“I've seen the improvement, the beauty of our campus, the growth of some of the gardens so it's not just beautiful inside in terms of buildings but also outside.”
And that upswing in attendance means that Fanshawe itself is in need of yet another expansion, the most pressing in terms of the need of a third residence on the London campus.
“What we're standing on the edge of for the next five to ten years, is the massive retirement of the baby boomers in our society,” explained Rundle. “That means there will be an increased requirement for people with college credentials, much more than there is now.”
For a third residence to be constructed the college has to be sure that no less than ninety per cent of the beds will be filled during the school year, a target that the college has just recently reached.
“We have just now reached that point,” Rundle continued. “So we have just now, in principle, approved the building of a third residence. So now we're at the ‘where is it going to be built?', ‘how many beds?' stage.
“So I'm hoping we'll have a third residence, ideally, ready September 2009, for sure September 2010.”
And as the student population grows, it's only natural that the courses offered at the college will adapt to suit their needs. Warkentin explained that the college is always researching new programs that they believe would be popular and up to date, some of which may appear sooner rather than later.
“The new careers that we will be preparing people for will change again,” Warkentin explained regarding the college programs currently offered at Fanshawe. “We'll see other new fields, like right now we're investigating gaming and some exciting new programs.”
As for the near future, Warkentin believes that the fastest expanding portion of Fanshawe is the number of distance courses that are becoming available online- the college's next generation so to speak.
“How do we reach out to people in different ways so that they can take classes online?” Warkentin asked. “We probably have about 5,000 courses online. We're seen as a leader in distant education, and especially hybrid, which is a combination of online and face-to-face.
“The big thing is to recognize that learning styles are different and offer students options on how they learn.”
A difference of 40 years has seen Fanshawe change from a two-building trade school to one of largest college in the province featuring state of the art equipment and a surging online presence. It's not hard to imagine that it can only get better from here.
As one of the provinces founding colleges, Fanshawe can boast a long and colourful history that's seen it grow extensively in both size and respect.
Dr. Howard Rundle, Fanshawe's president, has been in a perfect position to see these changes first hand since he started working at the college in the early 1970's.
“There's an interesting way for people who can't remember the year they started [working here] to do so,” Rundle explained. “For people who can't remember the year, think of the building with the highest letter designation.”
Since its inaugural year, 1967, the college has designated buildings in ascending alphabetical order, with the exception of ‘A' building, which opened during the college's sophomore year. For Rundle, his first year with Fanshawe coincided with the year that ‘D' building was opened, 1972.
“The foundation then was business and technology,” Rundle said of the college 40 years ago. “And the first things that were added were what were then called ‘Applied Arts Programs.' Programs in human services, media studies and design- you might say that they were non-scientific skills; but skills were added in the mid-seventies.”
But what defined the college then isn't what defines it today, according to Rundle. Though those programs remain, he believes that it's the college's ability to avoid having just one main expertise that's helped it to flourish.
“Fanshawe College doesn't have a main program now,” said Rundle. “Many colleges do, and that's saying that many colleges orient itself and it's programming to the economy of the local community because they're providing the skilled labour for that community.
“But what is the main industry in London? There isn't one: there's everything. There's health, business, technology and manufacturing, so it means the college itself is quite comprehensive because we supply the skilled labour.”
“The business industry and the community have needed different kinds of practitioners,” said Joy Warkentin, who joined Fanshawe in 2000 as VP of Academic. “Some of the careers we are seeing now won't exist in a few years, so we've got lots of new programs that we may not have seen as a career in the past.”
“When I came there were 8,000 students,” Warkentin continued. “Now full-time students are around 15,000, so really its been marked by a period of quite significant growth.”
But beyond the population growth, Warkentin believes that the past ten years have also been defined by the changes that have taken place on campus, not just in the new buildings, but in the way the older buildings have been altered.
“When I came there wasn't a classroom I could see in,” Warkentin explained. “There are now windows into the classrooms so you can see learning happening.
“I've seen the improvement, the beauty of our campus, the growth of some of the gardens so it's not just beautiful inside in terms of buildings but also outside.”
And that upswing in attendance means that Fanshawe itself is in need of yet another expansion, the most pressing in terms of the need of a third residence on the London campus.
“What we're standing on the edge of for the next five to ten years, is the massive retirement of the baby boomers in our society,” explained Rundle. “That means there will be an increased requirement for people with college credentials, much more than there is now.”
For a third residence to be constructed the college has to be sure that no less than ninety per cent of the beds will be filled during the school year, a target that the college has just recently reached.
“We have just now reached that point,” Rundle continued. “So we have just now, in principle, approved the building of a third residence. So now we're at the ‘where is it going to be built?', ‘how many beds?' stage.
“So I'm hoping we'll have a third residence, ideally, ready September 2009, for sure September 2010.”
And as the student population grows, it's only natural that the courses offered at the college will adapt to suit their needs. Warkentin explained that the college is always researching new programs that they believe would be popular and up to date, some of which may appear sooner rather than later.
“The new careers that we will be preparing people for will change again,” Warkentin explained regarding the college programs currently offered at Fanshawe. “We'll see other new fields, like right now we're investigating gaming and some exciting new programs.”
As for the near future, Warkentin believes that the fastest expanding portion of Fanshawe is the number of distance courses that are becoming available online- the college's next generation so to speak.
“How do we reach out to people in different ways so that they can take classes online?” Warkentin asked. “We probably have about 5,000 courses online. We're seen as a leader in distant education, and especially hybrid, which is a combination of online and face-to-face.
“The big thing is to recognize that learning styles are different and offer students options on how they learn.”
A difference of 40 years has seen Fanshawe change from a two-building trade school to one of largest college in the province featuring state of the art equipment and a surging online presence. It's not hard to imagine that it can only get better from here.
