Richard (Rick) A. Rodriguez, Sr. M.A.
After twenty-plus years in the news business, I returned to school to complete my education. I’m a graduate of Nyack College (Nyack, NY) (B.A. Organizational Management) and of the New York Institute of Technology where I earned a Masters degree in Communications with a specialty in Video Production.
Overall, my career spans more than 30-years of broadcasting beginning as a country western disc jockey working the overnight shift in San Antonio, Texas. From that, I transitioned into radio news and eventually local television. Those humble beginnings led me all the way up to network television, covering the world as a senior cameraman, video editor, and field engineer for the National Broadcasting Company based in New York City.
I experienced many major events during my career with NBC News. Besides covering domestic events around the nation, politics and political conventions, plane crashes and hurricanes, my career included many major international stories as well. I covered the wars in Central America from 1983 to 1985, the historic earthquakes in Mexico City and Japan, and the invasion of Kuwait by Saddam Hussein in 1990.
The last major event in which I actively participated happened on September 11, 2001 in Manhattan. On that day and those that followed, I was part of NBC’s Emmy award winning coverage of the attack on the World Trade Center. I worked as a cameraman doing round-the-clock “live shots” and taped coverage.
I retired from active news coverage in 2004 and began a teaching career. I taught Broadcast Journalism for eight years at Roosevelt University in Chicago and I’m happy to say I’m beginning my fourth semester here at ECC this Fall.
I’ve been married to my wife Cynthia for the past 39-years and live in Elgin with my grown son and three grand children.
I do volunteer work with my sister, Dr. Rachel Rodriguez, developing and promoting various public health programs in Malawi, Africa. After recently completing a six-month tour as a “Fulbright Scholar” for her work in Africa, she accepted an offer to teach at the Kamuzu College of Nursing in Blantyre, Malawi.
My life and career have been blessed with opportunities to explore and participate in many of the world’s major events within my lifetime. I look forward to sharing these first hand perspectives with you all.