[3][2] In 1911 she moved to the Maine Central Institute in Pittsfield, serving as Dean of Girls and mathematics instructor until 1916.

[3][4] Afterward she told Roberts that she would accept his offer only if it included a full faculty membership and more latitude than the original job description allowed.

[3] Cognizant of "the challenges of being a woman at Colby", Runnals advocated for "equal support of the women's division" from the very beginning.

[6] Within a year of her arrival, she had revamped the health and physical education program for women, replacing the "part-time, low paid supervisor for gymnastic activities" with a full-time nurse and a fully stocked woman's infirmary.

[3] In the 1930s she led efforts to raise $100,000 from a total of 1,200 alumni for the establishment of a Women's Union on the new Mayflower Hill campus.

[3][7] In 1942 she oversaw the plans for women's dormitories at the Mayflower Hill campus, consulting with staff at other colleges and "comparing measurements of everything, down to closets as needed to accommodate 'modern party dresses'".

She died on June 1, 1980, following a lengthy illness, and was buried in her family's plot in the Gray Cemetery in Dover-Foxcroft.