Bernard C. Radde Distinguished Service Award: Janice Varney

Janice Varney received the Bernard C. Radde Distinguished Service Award in 2015. 

As the first Executive Dean of Lake Michigan College in South Haven, Janice Varney led the new campus to become an integral and vital part of the community. LMC Trustee and South Haven resident Steven Small said, “It is Janice who is largely responsible for this community’s embracing LMC.”

“In 2003, the residents of South Haven entrusted LMC with the responsibility to deliver to them high-quality college education,” said President Robert Harrison. “Janice took on our ambitions for the area and made them her own. She has and deserves the respect of everyone at the college.”

Janice served as board president of the South Haven Chamber of Commerce for six years, worked with South Haven’s Rotary Club to establish a $100,000 endowment for LMC scholarships, and represented the college on the Brownfield Redevelopment and Local Development Finance Authorities. After her retirement from LMC, she has continued to serve on the South Haven Community Foundation, the Saugatuck Center for the Arts, and the Southwest Michigan Land Conservancy. She is currently working with community members to establish a South Haven Speaker’s Series. She was recently awarded the 2014 South Haven Chamber of Commerce Lifetime Achievement Award, one of many such honors. 

LMC Trustee Dr. David Maysick believes that Janice’s role could not have been filled by anyone else. “Far more people know of our college in that area and beyond because of her than would if any other ‘normal’ person had had her job. I do not think it is possible to measure her impact for LMC on that community,” he said.