Dr. Kathy Fitzpatrick smiles in front of her Supreme Court of Texas law license certificate in her office in the Nicholson School of Communication and Media on Sept. 9. Fitzpatrick was a professor and director of the University of South Florida’s Zimmerman School of Advertising and Mass Communications for six years before joining the UCF administration.
Gio Gonzalez
The newly minted Director of UCF’s Nicholson School of Communication and Media, Kathy Fitzpatrick, was working in corporate communications when she had what she calls her “aha moment.”
“One day I’m sitting there, and I could literally see the corner office of my boss,” Fitzpatrick said. “And I thought, ‘I don’t want to do this’. For me, it wasn’t as meaningful to be working for a big business as it was to be in higher [education].”
Fitzpatrick, having just graduated from West Virginia University in her home state with a master’s degree in journalism, left in search of something big.
“I thought I wanted to be, I don’t know, something important,” Fitzpatrick said, “I went off to Dallas, Texas to find my fame and fortune. I thought I wanted the corporate business corner office.”
While working her corporate job, she was teaching as an adjunct professor and pursuing her law degree at Southern Methodist University. Once she made the decision to leave corporate communications, Fitzpatrick said, she leaned into academics.
“For me, the rewards were not in promoting and advancing a business,” Fitzpatrick said. “I could sell tennis shoes and all that kind of stuff, but it’s nothing like working with students and faculty.”
That turn Fitzpatrick made off the road to fame and fortune led her to universities across the country where she continued to teach and eventually become a researcher in public relations and public diplomacy, a path she said was sparked by another decisive moment: watching 9/11 unfold from the University of Florida’s Brechner Center for Freedom of Information.
“I was on the faculty at the University of Florida, and I was sitting in the office of the Brechner Center director, and we watched the planes hit the towers on TV in her office,” Fitzpatrick said. “That event expanded the trajectory of my research, because for me, I was looking at it through the lens of public relations and thinking about the relationships of our government with people abroad who had caused this.”
As Dr. Kathy Fitzpatrick settles into her new office in the Nicholson School of Communication and Media on Sept. 9, she cycles between checking her email, filling out forms and scribbling reminders on Post-it notes stuck to her desk. “I can’t tell you how many forms I’ve signed,” Fitzpatrick said.
Gio Gonzalez
Now, 25 years later, Fitzpatrick said a career studying how governments interact with the rest of the world has helped inform how she navigates relationships as a leader.
“My job is all about relationships with everybody that I work with,” Fitzpatrick said. “You think about the enterprise of a government managing relationships with people in all kinds of other places and different cultures; that’s what public diplomacy is.”
Before coming to UCF, Fitzpatrick was the director and professor of the University of South Florida’s Zimmerman School of Advertising & Mass Communications. That’s where DePauw University Pulliam Center for Contemporary Media Director Wendy Whitt said they built their own relationship.
“I was the associate director,” Whitt said. “We were a wonderfully close leadership team. I’ve never worked with a director, or even when I was in news, an editor, that closely. She’s very much a collaborative leader.”
Whitt said Fitzpatrick went from a new director who had just taken over during the COVID-19 lockdown, conducting virtual meetings for the entirety of her first year, to someone she now calls “a dear friend.”
The accomplishment Whitt is proudest of during their time together, she said, was building a long-term strategic plan that outlined a vision with measurable goals for the Zimmerman School.
“We had not had one before,” Whitt said. “I think that was hugely instrumental in creating a culture shift; it became a much more collaborative culture throughout the school than we previously had. I think that was one of her greatest contributions to the program because the culture had not always been that positive.”
While she’s still getting to know what Nicholson students and faculty need moving forward, Fitzpatrick said building relationships between disciplines is at the top of her to-do list.
“One of my goals is how do we create a holistic Nicholson School that thrives because of that distinction and diversity in film, journalism and games rather than a structure that keeps us all siloed,” Fitzpatrick said. “That’s really important to me: to create a culture of collaboration so that we’re all talking to each other.”
When asked where Nicholson students will notice the impact of her leadership most, the first thing Fitzpatrick said was the way spaces around the building are used.
“I hope they feel it in new facilities; new cool stuff that our fundraising donor friends will support,” Fitzpatrick said. “If it’s upgrades and facilities and things like that, if it’s new programs, if it’s study abroad opportunities, if it’s extracurricular opportunities.”
While she didn’t give details, Fitzpatrick said she already has one in mind.
“I want to put a social media analytics lab in downstairs,” Fitzpatrick said. “I’m looking at easy wins early for all of us, and to try to create a culture where people feel like this is something they want to be part of.”
Whitt offered the Zimmerman School’s Dress to Impress Closet as an example of how Fitzpatrick helped put new spaces together.
She said Fitzpatrick overheard a student saying they didn’t have a professional wardrobe for shooting portfolio reels or hosting a newscast, and she immediately offered up a room where students could pick out, try on and take home one free professional outfit per semester.
Zimmerman School Associate Professor of Instruction Dr. Stephanie Elder said she and Whitt got the Dress to Impress Closet ready themselves.
“It was storage at the time,” Elder said. “We cleared that out and then Wendy Whitt and I painted the room and made it a lot more cozy and inviting.”
Elder said students were thankful for the closet outfitted with clothes donated by local media professionals and alumni, including suits, dresses, purses and jewelry.
“They’re working and going to school full time, and just don’t have the extra funds,” Elder said. “So it’s been a big help to the students, and students are very appreciative of the opportunity to have these clothes.”
Making a difference for students, Fitzpatrick said, is what drove her into the halls of Nicholson.
“Watching students grow, develop and find their passion is the most rewarding thing in the world,” Fitzpatrick said. “And to feel like you’ve made a difference in a life.”
Correction: An earlier version of this story incorrectly stated that Kathy Fitzpatrick holds a doctorate. She holds a Juris Doctor. The story has been updated.