Northern educators from Thunder Bay and Sudbury are this year's recipients of the Minister's Lifetime Achievement Awards.
Pat Lang, former president of Confederation College in Thunder Bay, and Ivan Filion, a retired educator with Collège Boréal and Cambrian College in Sudbury, received the recognition, awarded annually by the Ministry of Training, Colleges and Universities, for outstanding contributions to education.
"The Lifetime Achievement Awards is reserved for truly outstanding individuals who have made an enduring difference to the college system,” Glen Murray, minister of training, colleges and universities, said in a news release. “Patricia Lang's and Ivan Filion's commitment to Ontario's postsecondary education has helped our province develop a skilled and well-trained workforce that is ready to meet the demand of the new economy."
Lang, who was president at Confederation from 2000 to 2011, is credited with being a “catalyst for social and economic growth in Northwestern Ontario.” Under her leadership, the school experienced growth, made valuable connections with the business sector to improve the college's training programs, and helped displaced workers transition to new jobs.
Filion is described as “a champion of cooperative education, helping colleges meets the needs of industry, regional development, and environmental protection.” He developed an award-winning industrial training partnership, expanded training opportunities for francophone students, and led a highly successful environmental initiative that helped bring elk back to Northern Ontario. Filion once served as interim president of Cambrian College, and remains active as an independent consultant in education leadership and environmental engineering.
Created in 2005, the Minister's Lifetime Achievement Awards goes beyond long service recognition to acknowledge lifetime achievement in advancing the college, the community and the Ontario college system.
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