- University News Archive - ��Vlog��ý Little Rock

Texas couple celebrates wedding anniversary with $25,000 gift to ��Vlog��ý Little Rock

Janea Snyder — Tue, 09 Jul 2019 16:06:35 +0000

��Vlog��ý Little Rock alumnus Patrick Rhode and his wife Leslie decided to do something different for their 23rd wedding anniversary earlier this year. Instead of giving gifts to each other, they chose to give the gift of scholarships to students at ��Vlog��ý Little Rock’s School of Mass Communication, one of four Arkansas universities from which Patrick and Leslie received degrees. The couple pledged $25,000 to endow a scholarship fund that will provide emergency assistance for students in the School of Mass Communication. Recipients of the Patrick and Leslie Rhode Endowed Scholarship can use the funds for tuition, books, fees, room and board, and any expense related to the student’s success. Selection preferences will be given to students who work full-time while obtaining their degree, and academic accomplishment will be considered. “This special anniversary gift from Patrick and Leslie is deeply meaningful to us,” said Christian O’Neal, vice chancellor for university advancement. “I thank them for choosing to believe in the potential of each of our students to thrive just as they have in their professions.” A native of Hot Springs, Arkansas, Patrick Rhode currently serves as U.S. vice president of corporate affairs for the global infrastructure firm, Cintra. “We are all fortunate to live in a country where you don’t have to look far for inspiration,” Patrick Rhode said. “It lives everywhere around us and in the determined eyes of young people who balance work and school every day for a chance at an unknown story that awaits. Leslie and I have longtime ties to central Arkansas, and we appreciate what ��Vlog��ý Little Rock is doing to support students who are dreaming about their futures with their families in mind.” Leslie Rhode, a former television news anchor and reporter in Washington, D.C. and Austin, Texas, got her career start in Arkansas and is thrilled to now be giving something back to students exploring careers in communication in her home state. “Both Patrick and I grew up watching Arkansas television news reporters, and I always dreamed of becoming one of them,” she said. “Our careers have taken different twists to different cities, but the dreams we had as kids are universal in students everywhere trying to better themselves and their communities. We are proud to play a small role in fulfilling those dreams for students at ��Vlog��ý Little Rock.” Patrick Rhode earned a bachelor’s degree in political science from the University of Arkansas in 1991 and enrolled in the ��Vlog��ý Little Rock’s bachelor of mass communication degree program in search of a new career path. He left in 1993 – just three credit hours short of completing the degree – to work as a television reporter for the CBS affiliate in Tuscaloosa, Alabama. He completed the degree in 2016 and was honored as the School of Mass Communication’s Distinguished Alumnus in 2018. The School of Mass Communication is part of the university’s College of Social Sciences and Communication, whose mission is to drive social change and to inspire human expression, reflection, and interconnection. “Both Patrick and Leslie Rhode exemplify our mission through their work and career, but also now through their recent gift to the School of Mass Communication,” said Julien Mirivel, interim dean of the . “For generations to come, students will benefit from their gift and be able to finish their degree in spite of the many challenges they face. We are grateful for their generosity and the support for our students.” Patrick Rhode’s career path has landed him numerous high-profile, senior executive roles in private industry and government, including special assistant to the president of the United States, NASA senior advisor, FEMA chief of staff, and associate administrator of the U.S. Small Business Administration among other notable positions. Patrick and Leslie have two children and now live in Austin, Texas, although Arkansas will always be a home close to their hearts. They say they look forward to seeing their scholarship recipients chase their dreams just as they did after graduating from Arkansas universities. (Photo top right) Leslie and Patrick Rhode have created an endowed scholarship to assist students in the School of Mass Communication.

Rhode receives Distinguished Alumni Award from School of Mass Communication

Ajani Oyindamola — Mon, 23 Apr 2018 16:50:50 +0000

Patrick Rhode, U.S. vice president of corporate affairs for the global infrastructure firm, Cintra, returned to his alma mater with the idea of sharing lessons learned from his career, which spans the White House and high profile senior executive roles in government and private industry. He returned home to the University of Arkansas at Little Rock on April 12 to serve as the keynote speaker of the School of Mass Communication Awards Ceremony, but was surprised with the Distinguished Alumni Award from the School of Mass Communication. Arkansas state officials also recognized Rhode with a Certificate of Recognition from Gov. Asa Hutchinson and a Capitol Citation from Secretary of State Mark Martin. His notable career has included positions as special assistant to President George W. Bush, chief of staff for two FEMA administrations within the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, associate administrator of the U.S. Small Business Administration, and senior advisor to NASA. During his visit to ��Vlog��ý Little Rock, members of Dr. Iveta Imre’s Multimedia Reporting Class Nick Popowitch and Kamroon Woods interviewed Rhode for a feature that will appear on LR Angle. Rhode also spoke with students in Dr. Sonny Rhodes’ Careers in Mass Media class and did an interview with K��Vlog��ýR. Rhode credits ��Vlog��ý Little Rock as the place where he learned to take chances that led to unexpected opportunities. “��Vlog��ý Little Rock is very special to me, because it is the place I really learned to get out of my comfort zone,” he said. “My story is not a very conventional one. I did not have it all figured out, far from it. I think it is okay not to know exactly what you want to do.” Early in his career, Rhode moved to Austin, Texas, to be with his fiancé. Since he was unable to immediately find a position in broadcast journalism, he became a spokesman for a state agency and soon met someone who would be instrumental in his career. “Within weeks of my new job, public confidence in that agency would be tested,” he said. “I would be introduced to members of the staff of a young Governor Bush. This is the time where I met people that I never expected to meet. This taught me to do the best in any situation that comes before you because you never know who may be there and who may be helpful to you in the future.” Despite initial personal thoughts that he was too young and inexperienced to take the job, Rhode served as deputy director of National Advance Operations for Bush’s successful presidential campaign in 2000, which led to several high-profile government positions. “Don’t limit yourself by how you see your capabilities, because there are people around you who may see more for you than you see for yourself,” he said. “That’s the lesson I learned when I was asked to help run operations for President Bush’s campaign.” On Sept. 11, 2001, Rhode’s life took on another drastic change. When the U.S. Department of Homeland Security was created in the aftermath of the 9/11 tragedy, Rhode was named chief of staff for two FEMA administrations within the department responsible for more than 100 Presidential Disaster and Emergency Declarations over his years. The department assisted more than 1 million Americans during his tenure. “We looked out the window and saw smoke coming from the direction of the Pentagon,” Rhode said. “There is no question that moment changed my life. The country was forever changed that day. The lesson for me is that planning is important, but life doesn’t care about our perfect plans. Life will change in ways we have never expected.” When Hurricane Katrina struck in 2005, Rhode learned that, sometimes, doing your job is all you can do in an impossible situation. “The early pictures of disaster victims in New Orleans seemingly forgotten by their country were all around. As chief of staff, part of my role is to encourage everyone to do their jobs and not let the outside pressure get to us. The criticism and struggle made much of the early headlines, but that was not the whole story,” he said. “The often untold story is what happened next when the country came together, resulting in the emergency evacuation of tens of thousands of people to safety in several states, something the likes of which had not been attempted much less accomplished at that time in the modern history of the country.” Throughout Rhode’s career, completing his bachelor’s degree in mass communication from ��Vlog��ý Little Rock is a goal he never forgot. He left ��Vlog��ý Little Rock in 1993, just three credit hours short of graduation, to pursue a career as a television reporter for the CBS affiliate in Tuscaloosa, Alabama. With the help of mass communication faculty, Rhode proudly completed his degree in 2016. “I realized that so many of my stories were about ��Vlog��ý Little Rock,” he said. “When she asked about my education, I had to explain to my daughter that I left college three credit hours short of a college degree. I was inspired to come back, and the university welcomed me back with open arms. The lesson I learned is to remember what is important and that you are never too old to come back.”

Patrick Rhode tapped as keynote speaker for Mass Communication Awards Ceremony

Ajani Oyindamola — Tue, 13 Mar 2018 14:17:01 +0000

In 2016, Patrick Rhode fulfilled a long-held goal of graduating from the University of Arkansas at Little Rock, a journey 25 years in the making. Rhode, U.S. vice president of corporate affairs for the global infrastructure firm, Cintra, will return to his alma mater as the keynote speaker of the School of Mass Communication Awards Ceremony on Thursday, April 12, to share his journey from a ��Vlog��ý Little Rock college student to a career that would span the White House and high profile senior executive roles in government and private industry. The awards ceremony will take place from noon to 2 p.m. in the Donaghey Student Center Ledbetter Hall. Rhode’s notable career has taken him from Fortune 500 and 1000 companies to NASA as well as to the White House. After serving as the deputy director of National Advance Operations for George W. Bush’s successful presidential campaign in 2000, Rhode was sworn in by the Vice President in the East Room of the White House as a special assistant to to the President of the United States. When the U.S. Department of Homeland Security was created in the aftermath of the 9/11 tragedy, Rhode was named chief of staff for two FEMA administrations within the department responsible for more than 100 Presidential Disaster and Emergency Declarations. The department assisted more than 1 million Americans during his tenure, during which time he was awarded high level national security clearances. He has also served as the associate administrator of the U.S. Small Business Administration and senior advisor to NASA.

From ��Vlog��ý Little Rock to the White House and beyond

After Rhode earned a bachelor’s degree in political science from the University of Arkansas in 1991, he came to ��Vlog��ý Little Rock in search of a new career path. “��Vlog��ý Little Rock is special to me because it was the place where I first learned to leave my comfort zone and try something I had never tried before,” he said. “Something kept calling me to try broadcast journalism, and attending ��Vlog��ý Little Rock gave me the chance to learn skills on campus as well as at a local television affiliate.” He credits ��Vlog��ý Little Rock with giving him the tools that led to early career roles as an award- winning television reporter with CBS and ABC television affiliates.

As a student at ��Vlog��ý Little Rock, Patrick Rhode interviews actor James Earl Jones.

“It was my time at ��Vlog��ý Little Rock that gave me the confidence to try a career path that led me in so many directions,” Rhode said. “I was encouraged by great professors and had a series of great formative experiences at ��Vlog��ý Little Rock, from interviewing the actor James Earl Jones for the student radio station news and getting him to say, ‘This is ��Vlog��ýLR,’ just the same way he once famously said, ‘This is CNN,” to helping then CBS anchor Paula Zahn climb a fence barricade around the crowd in downtown Little Rock on election night in 1992 to make a live report on time.” While at ��Vlog��ý Little Rock, he also interned at KARK, which later led him to his first job. “I only hope that longtime Arkansas journalist Steve Barnes and others at KARK Television in Little Rock don’t remember the kid intern that kept scotch-taping the wrong script order in the teleprompter,” he joked. Rhode left ��Vlog��ý Little Rock in 1993, just three credit hours short of graduation, to pursue a career as a television reporter for the CBS affiliate in Tuscaloosa, Alabama. When he left that job, the mayor of Tuscaloosa presented Rhode with a proclamation declaring a day in June as Patrick Rhode Day in honor of his great news coverage of the city. “Truthfully, I think the recognition was for the notoriety of an April Fool’s story we did declaring that a late night city ordinance would forever remove the name of Bear Bryant from the University of Alabama football stadium,” he said. “The television audience did not wait to hear the city council say April Fool’s at the end of the piece before the phone lines at the station began to light up in protest.” Completing his bachelor’s degree in mass communication from ��Vlog��ý Little Rock is a goal he never forgot. “I had thought about finishing many times over the years but always had an excuse,” Rhode said. “I was having a conversation a few years ago about what influenced and motivated our early career decisions. Every example I spoke of was my time at ��Vlog��ý Little Rock. As I reflected, I thought to myself, ‘How could I not have a degree from the school that taught me so much?’” With the help of Dr. Olaf Hoerschelmann, interim associate dean of the School of Mass Communication, and Dr. Jeanne Rollberg, an associate professor of journalism from 1983 to 2016, he proudly completed his degree in 2016. “More than 20 years after leaving ��Vlog��ý Little Rock, I sent a somewhat embarrassing note to Dr. Olaf Hoerschelmann explaining my situation and asked if there might be a way I could complete coursework. After so many years, I was not even sure records still existed of me, ha. Dr. Hoerschelmann and the entire university staff were so helpful in their direction of my coursework completion, and immediately welcomed me back home. It feels like a fitting end to a long journey that began at ��Vlog��ý Little Rock.” Rollberg recalled that Rhode was a “very bright and talented student,” but that she was somewhat surprised to see his email so many years later.

As a Special Assistant to the President of the United States, Patrick Rhode works with President George W. Bush.

“I confess to have given up on his ever graduating because the time lapse had been so long,” Rollberg said. “I was very glad and proud for him when he decided to finish.” The end of Rhode’s journey to getting a degree at ��Vlog��ý Little Rock is just the beginning of his path to inspiring the next generation of aspiring mass communication professionals. His keynote speech, “Leaving the Zone,” will cover how continuously leaving his comfort zone led to incredible career opportunities and personal growth. “We all live in our comfort zones,” Rhode said. “But sometimes our personal and professional experiences of growth are informed most by leaving the zone. My path through several careers has been imperfect, but I don’t think we have to be perfect. Transitions are not easy. There are failures. There are self doubts. There all always critics and naysayers. But I believe we often find ourselves when we leave the zone. “It was my experience at ��Vlog��ý Little Rock that first set me on a path of leaving my zone that resulted in experiences that I never would have imagined. I’m pretty sure while sitting in class that my dreams included a simple hope that my car would start back up again that afternoon near University Avenue, and I never would have believed that I would have the chance to help bring billion dollar infrastructure projects to market, or that Air Force One would one day have a seat reserved for me.”

- University News Archive - ����Vlog��ý Little Rock

Texas couple celebrates wedding anniversary with $25,000 gift to ����Vlog��ý Little Rock

Rhode receives Distinguished Alumni Award from School of Mass Communication

Patrick Rhode tapped as keynote speaker for Mass Communication Awards Ceremony

- University News Archive - ��Vlog��ý Little Rock

Texas couple celebrates wedding anniversary with $25,000 gift to ��Vlog��ý Little Rock