Honoring 40 Years of Selfless Service 

Bob and Ellen Pate
At his retirement party last spring, beloved Curry School Counselor Education professor Bob Pate received a most fitting gift from his two children and their spouses: The Human Services Suite in the new Bavaro Hall will be named in his honor.

 

"My father devoted his career to the Curry School,” says Bob’s son Hew Pate, “especially the Human Services Department.  My sister and I thought helping support Curry's important mission was the best way we could honor the example he set for us of love, integrity, and dedication to serving others."

Bob joined the Curry School Counselor Education faculty in 1968 and has earned many honors over the course of his career, including the William H. Van Hoose and John R. Cook awards from the Virginia Counselors Association and the Thomas J. Sweeney Professional Leadership Award from the Counseling International Honorary Society, Chi Sigma Iota. Bob also was recognized as Curry School of Education Outstanding Professor in 1993.

He served as the first chair of the Curry School’s Human Services Department from 1984 to 1994. In 1995 he was appointed Dean for Administrative Services, a position he held until 2007. In the latter years of that role, Bob devoted a significant amount of his time to the planning, preparation, and funding of Bavaro Hall. He also served for the past 12 years as the Curry School of Education Foundation treasurer.

“My father has dedicated his life to selflessly serving others while never wanting any recognition along the way,” says Mary Ellen Pate Barton. “This was our way of recognizing him and his 40 outstanding years of service to the Curry School.”

Generous pledges of support by Hew and his wife Lindsey and by Mary Ellen and her husband Scott were combined to name the Human Services Suite. “The Curry Foundation board of directors was eager to do something to honor Bob’s service,” says Foundation executive director Deb Donnelly, “so we were delighted when Bob’s family decided to honor him in this way.”

When Bavaro Hall is completed, the 1,000-square-foot suite will house the chair of the Department of Human Services and support staff. 

“Although, I am humbled, honored, touched to my emotional core, and just plain happy about the Human Services Suite gift,” Bob says, “my primary feelings are the joy and gratitude of a father that his children would do something so wonderful and loving.”

  

*Name is pending approval by the University Board of Visitors.