Wendy Rice, long-time U employee and manager of the Master of Public Administration program, died in her sleep from massive heart failure Thursday, Feb. 21. She was 49.
Rice, a graduate of the same program she went on to manage, also received a bachelor’s of arts degree from Westminster College of Salt Lake City.
Rice’s death is a tremendous blow to the M.P.A. program as well as the Salt Lake community, according to Dr. Rick Green, director of Public Administration Education.
Students “absolutely loved her,” he said.
“Many students have approached me and told me that they never would have made it through [the program] if not for her,” Green said. “She was the glue that held the M.P.A. program together.”
Elena Higbee, a student in the M.P.A. program, told of just one instance in which Rice went out of her way for her students.
“We had a class once that met on weekends, and Mrs. Rice was in charge of organizing it. When I couldn’t come in to pick up the text, she delivered it to my house. I thought that was so nice,” she said. Higbee also described Rice as “the heart of the program.”
Aside from being a student adviser, Rice served as the “den-mother” of the M.P.A. program, counseling students and even paying fees to help keep her students in the program, Green said.
Julie Genovesi, a close friend and co-worker of Rice, said it took less than five seconds before Rice could make somebody’s day better.
“She always tried her hardest to help her students out, and she was more than just an adviser,” Genovesi said. “She was a surrogate mother to me.”
From 1992 until her death, Rice served as the program manager of the Executive M.P.A. program and the evening M.P.A. program.
Aside from her work at the U, Rice was an active member of the Democratic Party, attending conventions at both state and national levels.
Rice also served as the recording secretary at local meetings of the American Society for Public Administration, and took an active role in the AFL-CIO and participated in labor causes for workers.
Rice is survived by her husband of 25 years, Tim Rice, and three brothers.
Green also noted that “her children were her cats.”
Memorial services will be held Saturday, March 2 at 11 a.m. at Larkin Mortuary.