Vincent Rhodes, PhD, APR (he/him)
Associate Vice President, Strategic Priorities
Old Dominion University
We caught up with Vincent Rhodes to discover more about him, what he’s up to, and what we can learn from him.
Briefly describe your current role.
Eastern Virginia Medical School merged in July with ODU, and our marketing and communications staffs merged as well. As AVP for Strategic Priorities, I get to focus on high-leverage projects that might have stalled or need some focused attention and leadership to move forward. It’s very much a “fixer” role and very much appeals to my enjoyment of problem solving.
Briefly describe your career journey and what led you to institutional advancement in academic medicine.
My first job out of college was Managing Editor for a scuba diving magazine, which gave me a chance to travel the world to amazing sites and stretch my abilities as a feature writer. I had several “people don’t leave jobs, they leave leaders” moments and moved on to public education and administration. After about six years, I got an offer that I couldn’t refuse to join the medical school. And 16 years later, we’ve merged with a larger, R1-designated school that offers new possibilities for our faculty, residents, staff, and students.
What achievement in your current job are you proud of?
Assembling an insanely talented and wildly creative team. We push each other to excel, and they have consistently risen to every challenge thrown at them. It’s a pleasure to watch them work and grow as leaders. I couldn’t be more proud of their professionalism and commitment.
What is a challenge that you/your unit/your institution are/is facing and how are you addressing it?
Merging with ODU was a big challenge and continues to test us as we integrate computer systems, processes, donor pools, etc. Our comms team did an excellent job helping our people navigate this monumental change through regularly scheduled town hall meetings, informational web pages, and newsletters. We helped leadership maintain their commitment to a high degree of transparency while answering even the most difficult questions quickly and with compassion and respect. On a more direct level, EVMS MarComm is 3 months into our departmental integration with ODU University Comms—a brand new adventure.