2024 Award of Excellence Recipient: Jim Vanderveken
When Jim Vanderveken began his career at Mohawk College in 1987, the college system was at a turning point. Having previously worked for the federal government, Jim brought a unique perspective on the changes that were to come.
“There was a clear need for the college to ensure it had a competitive edge,” he says. Particularly in relation to securing funding, Jim was able to share his expertise.
Throughout his 37-year career at Mohawk, Jim has helped to bridge connections at the college and in the community for the betterment of the college as a whole, and especially for our students.
In the late 1980s and early 1990s, there were significant changes in many sectors, particularly in manufacturing industries, which were dominant in Hamilton.
“We were one educational leader [with] tremendous capacity and strength we could lend to the range of challenges and opportunities in the community,” he says. Offering retraining courses was one way Mohawk addressed these changes to the industrial and economic transformation Hamilton was going through then. Jim was a Training Specialist on the team that offered those supports.
By the late 1990s, Jim became the Director of Community Training and Cooperative Education, a position he held for 10 years.
Through the years, Jim has led or been a part of numerous programs focused on ensuring anyone who wants to learn and grow, can do so at Mohawk.
The secret to his success?
He humbly credits the strong teams and dedicated colleagues who have supported him along the way, as well as the community partners who have embraced shared goals to make our community better.
“We put a lot of effort into our partnerships [at Mohawk],” he says. “The challenges we are trying to tackle together are complex. The complexities require a level of authenticity, genuineness and transparency. Through that prism, we can realize concrete steps forward with our partners.”
For the past 15 years, Jim has served as a dean at the college. First, as the Dean of Interdisciplinary Studies, from 2009 to 2017, where he and his teams launched Career Integration through Cooperative Education (CICE), Career Pathways, and expanded Language Instruction for Newcomers to Canada and Dual Credit programming. Since 2017, as the Dean of the Centre for Community Partnerships and Experiential Learning, Jim and his team have launched Challenge 2025 and the PTECH/Early College initiative program; built the revolutionary City School by Mohawk, offering a place-based approach to learning using two state-of-the-art mobile classrooms; and implemented a comprehensive strategy to position Mohawk as a national leader in respect to the imperative of co-operative education and experiential learning.
Through his leadership, he seeks to support the development of each member of his teams. “My role as a leader is creating conditions for others to realize their own leadership capacity,” he says.
He takes a strength-based approach to leadership. “There isn’t anyone at the college who isn’t working hard. So, what I have to do as a leader is ensure they have the right working conditions that allow them to do the work they need to do,” he says. “I listen a lot. I then can process and help. It’s also important I recognize effort – that's been one of the things that’s been a thread through my leadership. I feel compelled to express my appreciation to my team on a regular basis. That’s really important. They are accomplishing great things, and that needs to be acknowledged.”
So, what does the future hold for Mohawk?
Jim says you need to look at past performance to know we will continue to accomplish great things. “We are an ambitious academic community. Our faculty, support staff and administrators are second to none,” he says.
He points to the way the college embraced digital learning many years ago. “Mohawk was a very early adopter,” Jim says. So, when COVID hit and everyone needed to pivot to an online environment overnight, the college was able to quickly build on the groundwork already done over many years. “I personally feel we are on a similar track with our climate action agenda,” he says. “Who are the leaders that are going to manage and inform? Mohawk is positioning itself well to be a leader in this work."
In August 2024, Jim received the Mohawk College Award of Excellence for his leadership at the college and his longstanding work with partners. He was surprised to hear his name called to the stage at the President’s Breakfast, where he received his award. “It is one of the greatest honours – a highlight of my career at Mohawk College,” he says. “It is recognition of the good work that my team has done, and I want to share it with them. But in short, I’m proud.”