It is a partnership—and a friendship—that has endured for more than 50 years. For Ron Fanning ’59 and Clair Howey ’58, the relationship first began in 1953 as classmates and Pi Kappa Alpha, Delta Gamma Chapter, fraternity brothers.

Ron and Clair serve as the chairman and vice chairman, respectively, of Fanning/Howey Associates, Inc., one of the most preeminent firms in the U.S. in school facility planning and design. Originally established by Ron’s father, Ralph Fanning, in Celina in the 1950s, the firm today has seven offices and nearly 300 employees in the Midwest and along the East Coast.

Fanning Howey has provided architectural and engineering services for hundreds of schools around the country, from Alaska to Florida. More than 700,000 students today attend school in buildings designed by the firm—many of them national and international award-winners.

As students in Miami University’s Department of Architecture and as pledges to the Pi Kappa Alpha fraternity, Ron and Clair hit it off as soon as they met. Both were hard-working, focused, and—when time permitted—sports-minded. They enjoyed intra-fraternity sports such as softball and bowling, as well as competing for the intra-fraternity all-sports trophy.

After graduating in 1958, Clair, a native of Ashland, Ohio, moved to Celina to join Ralph Fanning’s firm. Ron joined them after graduating a year later, and the firm operated with a staff of five (Ron, Clair, Ralph, Ron’s mom, and a secretary.) Clearly, the competitive streak that Ron and Clair demonstrated in fraternity sports carried over to their professional careers, as the firm grew steadily over the years. Today, Fanning Howey regularly competes against other top U.S. architectural firms to win high-profile educational facility projects in New York City, Philadelphia, Washington, DC, Cincinnati, Columbus, Indianapolis, as far west as Anchorage, and even in the Philippines.

For Ron and Clair, a passion for education has been a life-long affair. Ron, one of a limited number of design professionals to hold licenses as both a registered architect and a professional engineer, has traveled extensively to promote the importance of well-designed school buildings. As immediate past president of the Council for Educational Facility Planners International, he has advocated for an increase in funds to support school modernization programs—especially in poorer rural areas and urban cores.

Perhaps the partners’ greatest contribution has been in demonstrating that school design—especially when it involves educators, students, and the community early on—can have a profound impact on the quality of learning. Fanning Howey has published extensively on this topic, while also supporting a number of research initiatives that explore the link between facilities and educational outcome.

Fanning Howey also regularly reaches out to college students, supplying scholarships and internships. Over the past decade, Ron, Clair, and the firm have contributed more than $100,000 to Miami University Department of Architecture scholarships, in addition to many other donations and scholarships awarded to the children of employees.

“We owe our friendship and our careers to our time at Miami University, as architecture students and as fraternity brothers,” says Clair. “We’re proud of the work we do, the many jobs we’ve created over the years, and the impact we’ve had on the design profession and on schools and communities. The university and the fraternity gave us a chance to learn to work together and to persevere at everything we attempted, from the time we were still teenagers.”

Ron Fanning can be reached at rfanning@fhai.com. Clair Howey can be reached at chowey@fhai.com.