Training expert to speak at SC State Founders Day on Sunday, March 2
Celebrating the 129th anniversary of SC State’s founding, the program will begin at
4 p.m. in Smith-Hammond-Middleton Memorial Center. The public is invited.
The university will honor Distinguished Alumni Award recipients, Thomas E. Miller
Society inductees, and recipients of the annual Professors of the Year and Staff Employees
of the Year awards. The university also will recognize faculty and staff service anniversaries,
including newly inducted members of the Quarter Century Club.
About Patrena Rice
Rice grew up in Hemingway, South Carolina, and graduated from South Carolina State
College (now university) in 1971 with a bachelor's degree in mathematics. She pledged
Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority Inc. and completed a work-study opportunity at Washington
Dining Hall.
Before graduating, Rice was recruited by the C & P Telephone Company of Virginia.
She graduated at a time when the Bell Telephone companies were actively seeking engineers
and recognized that they could greatly benefit from the talent emerging from Historically
Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs).
Rice excelled in her professional career, earning special recognition for designing
and developing the nationally acclaimed Access Training Program. This program effectively
facilitated the understanding of technical aspects and concepts related to telecommunications
networks for Regional Bell Operating Companies and Bell Communications Research.
After retiring early to pursue her entrepreneurial ambitions, she created Professional
Training and Consulting (PTC), a firm based in Charlotte, North Carolina, that focuses
on enhancing job performance. Her training classes gained immense popularity among
top communications and media organizations, including Bell, Sprint, Walt Disney Productions,
and IBM.
Rice is a member of Friendship Missionary Baptist Church in Charlotte, North Carolina,
where she serves as a deacon and holds various leadership roles.