President Kenneth E. Zirkle, who served 20 years as the president of Findlay College and later the University of Findlay, holds the record for length of presidential service. His marketing approach to higher education included the introduction of a host of innovative, career-oriented programs including bilingual business education, athletic training, environmental and hazardous materials management, equine management, gerontology, Japanese, human resource management, international studies, recreation therapy, English equestrian studies, criminal justice, technical writing, occupational therapy and physical therapy. To address how Findlay could become an even stronger institution and thrive in the future, despite the looming challenges, Zirkle formed a strategic planning committee that proposed a name change for the institution from Findlay College to the University of Findlay. The change also reflected Findlay's growth in enrollment. Enrollment tripled in Zirkle's first 10 years, reaching 3,375 full-and-part-time students in 1993-94, and the endowment tripled as well, reaching $9.6 million in 1993.
With the name change came additional graduate degrees, including the Master of Arts in Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages and Bilingual Education, a Master of Arts in Teacher Education, a Master of Business Administration, a Master of Science in Environmental Management, a Master of Arts in Liberal Studies and a master's of athletic training. The increase in enrollment and programs led to the need and construction of more buildings during Zirkle's tenure including the Phil Gardner Fitness Center, the Kenneth Frost Science Center, the James L. Child Jr. Equestrian Complex, the Virginia B. Gardner Fine Arts Pavilion, and the renovation of the Alumni Memorial Union, Henderson Dining Hall, Brewer Science Hall and others. Under Zirkle's administration, athletics took on a broader dimension as he emphasized the value of sports to the college experience and recruitment.
Throughout his presidency, Zirkle kept a tradition of inviting students to his home to meet and talk with them personally. Although he wasn't initially a member of the Churches of God, he and his young family soon joined the College First Church of God. He and his wife, Christine, had two daughters Brianne, 4, and Dara, 2. They were joined by a third child, Lindsay, who arrived on Oct. 13, 1983, the first day of President Zirkle's first Board of Trustees meeting and a day before Homecoming. Zirkle also had two daughters, Laura and Andrea, from a previous marriage.
Prior to coming to Findlay, Kenneth E. Zirkle had been vice president for student affairs at State University of New York (SUNY) College at Cortland, New York. Previously, he had worked in student affairs at Elizabethtown College in Elizabethtown, Pennsylvania, and The Pennsylvania State University from 1970-73, and had taught English and served as a coach at schools in Pennsylvania and New York. He also had articles on student affairs published in the National Association of Student Personnel Association Journal, Journal of College Student Personnel and The Journal of College and University Student Housing.
President Zirkle participates in community service projects during orientation.