Dean Emeritus Bob Rockett makes a planned gift to support Embry-Riddle
By Melanie Stawicki Azam
After 37 years at Embry-Riddle, Dean Emeritus Bob Rockett realizes his life and the history of the university is woven together as part of the same fabric.
“I’m part of something that grew beyond everyone’s wildest dreams,” says Rockett, who retired from the university in 2010. “Giving back is a natural thing when you think what Embry-Riddle gave to me.”
Rockett made a planned gift to support the Bob Rockett Leadership Award, which was created in honor of Rockett by Steve Ridder, special assistant to the president and the head coach of the Eagles’ men’s basketball program. It is awarded every two years to outstanding employees in the university’s athletic department. Rockett also has given to the university’s Women’s Center, chapel and the Heritage project to preserve Embry-Riddle’s history.
Growing up in Chicago, Rockett came to Embry-Riddle for a counseling job in 1974, when the campus had just about 2,000 students. Many students were Vietnam veterans and there were only about a dozen female students. He lived in the dorms his first week to get to know Embry-Riddle’s students.
“The first night I was there, I heard a motorcycle go through the first floor,” Rockett recalls.
Working under various university presidents, Rockett saw Embry-Riddle go from 1,800 students to more than 4,000 students, plus add the Prescott and Worldwide Campuses.
“All the foundations were laid by (former university president) Jack Hunt,” he says. “I think we always had the right president who moved us in the right direction.”
Rockett became director of counseling, but eventually was made dean of student affairs, a job that he held for 22 years. He served as a mentor to many students, plus helped establish a variety of student programs including an athletics program, campus ministry, and the first homecoming at the Daytona Beach Campus.
“I never became a pilot, but I understood the dream,” he says. “This is a tough program, but for the people who have the passion, it’s not.”
Later, Rockett was named dean of campus development and lead the university’s Heritage Project, a multifaceted effort to preserve Embry-Riddle's history, which began in 1926. Much of the history Rockett also obtained from personal conversations he had with John Paul Riddle, a founder of the university and barnstormer.
“He had wonderful stories,” Rockett recalls of Riddle.
Rockett also helped create the University Archives, which includes the oral histories of many of Embry-Riddle’s oldest surviving alumni, plus the establishment of an online database with more than 7,000 historical university photographs and artifacts.
“I lived some of these stories, so it was a lot of fun,” he says.
For his many years of service, Rockett was named Dean Emeritus in 2010. He looks back on his time at Embry-Riddle as a wonderful experience that grew and evolved.
“The hardest thing with retiring is finding a way to make a difference,” he says. “I know that what I have given to Embry-Riddle will be used to enhance the university.”
Rockett, who has one grown son, now volunteers with hospice and remains lifelong friends with many of his former co-workers at Embry-Riddle.
“That’s why I’m a donor, because of all I’ve been given,” he says. “For me, it’s all these experiences that just gave me an awesome life.”