When you think of Fanshawe, one name that comes to mind: Mary Pierce. Mary has been an inarguable part of the College for over 2 decades, and now is ready for her next adventure: Retirement.

We are raising funds to establish The Mary Pierce Award. This award will recognize outstanding student achievement in the Faculty of Business, Information Technology and Part-time Studies.

About Mary

Mary joined Fanshawe College in 2000 as part-time and a partial load professor and became a full-time professor and coordinator in 2004 in the School of Business and Management, later the Lawrence Kinlin School of Business. Mary became Chair of Business in 2007 and Dean of the Faculty of Business, Information Technology and Part-time Studies in 2017. Mary served as Acting Dean of the Faculty of Creative Industries in 2022/2023.

During her tenure as an administrator, Mary has overseen the development and launch of over 40 new full-time programs, including 4 Bachelor of Commerce degree programs. More recently she has led Fanshawe’s part-time portfolio to be the leading part-time enrolment programming in Ontario and has led the team launching 100 plus micro-credentials.

Mary is known for her leadership across the college as chair of a variety of committees and projects including most recently, the new Academic Framework for Artificial Intelligence. Provincially, Mary has been a long-term member and past chair of the Ontario Heads of Business. She led the project to create Ontario’s first provincial transfer agreement for the Ontario College Business Schools and the provincial agreement with McDonald’s Canada for credit transfer in Business. Mary has also served on the executive of the Association of Canadian Schools of Business and has served on the Ontario Heads of Continuing Education and as a director on numerous boards in the London area.

Mary has been the catalyst for over 400 transfer agreements in business and 20 international exchange programs for Fanshawe. As a tireless advocate for international students and internationalization, Mary has championed many innovations in international enrolment. Additionally, she championed Fanshawe’s first online learning for full-time programs beginning in 2010, with Fanshawe now a provincial leader in online learning in the Ontario Colleges.

Mary was the academic leader behind the development and launch of the London South Campus in 2019. In 2017, she was recognized by OCASA as Researcher of the Year for her work in Academic Integrity. In 2015 she was Fanshawe’s Administrator of the Year and was also honoured by CICAN as an administrative leader in the colleges in Canada.

We wish to thank Mary on behalf of the entire College community for her many years of service, her passion, determination and wisdom. She will be missed!