After a decade spent teaching in a secondary school in Ontario, Rawson was appointed to the faculty of the College of Education of the University of Toronto, where he taught for two years. He subsequently became the founding principal of the Ontario Vocational Centre in London. The OVA - a post-secondary, business and technology centre - became Fanshawe College of Applied Arts and Technology in 1967. Rawson was named Vice President of Physical Planning and Plant at Fanshawe, a position he held until 1979, when he was named President. He retired in 1987, and for the next three years worked extensively in the United Arab Emirates (UAE), Kuwait, and Oman as a member of a consulting team that had been appointed to develop, staff, and recruit for Higher Education Colleges in those countries.