While four presidents have led the University of Miami, one steady presence has remained behind the scenes through every transition: Dr. Patricia A. Whitely.
Since arriving at UM in 1982, Whitely has become one of the University’s longest-serving and most beloved leaders. Now the senior vice president for student affairs and alumni engagement, she is in her 43rd year of service.
“She changed my life,” said Associate Vice President for Student Affairs Richard Soboram, who first met Whitely as a freshman in 1987. “I came here with a thick Jamaican accent and no expectations. She saw something in me. Invested in me. Pushed me. And it changed everything.”
Those who know her will tell you that she built her legacy by showing up.
“She’s present, she’s responsive, she’s everywhere,” Dr. Renee Callan, assistant vice president for student life, said. “You’ll be at an event and suddenly realize, ‘Of course, Dr. Whitely’s here.’ She makes the time.”
In 2017, the Faculty Senate recognized Whitely’s legacy with the James W. McLamore Outstanding Service and Leadership Award, which recognizes service above and beyond the call of duty by a member of the University community.
“She could have ten things on her calendar,” Dr. Erin Kobetz, Senior Associate Dean for Health Disparities, said. “And she’ll still find a way to be fully there for each one. That presence sends a powerful message to students, that they matter.”
Dr. Whitely and UM
Whitely’s roots at the U run deep. She arrived in Coral Gables straight from a graduate program in student affairs at the University of South Carolina and started as a residence coordinator in Stanford.
“I always tell people I’m a product of student leadership,” Whitely said. “I loved my undergraduate experience at St. John’s University, and someone told me ‘You could do this for a living.’”
In those early years, she helped convert Stanford, Eaton, Mahoney and Pearson into the University’s first residential colleges. By the time she became vice president for student affairs in 1997, she had weathered Hurricane Andrew, served as director of student life and earned her doctorate from UM.
Since then, her influence has been felt in every corner of the University.
“She is the most foundational leader we have,” Callan said. “When I think of the University of Miami, aside from Sebastian, the next face I think of is Dr. Whitely.”
She’s helped shape the most visible and personal spaces on campus, including the Wellness Center, Lakeside Village and Centennial Village. From founding the Student Affairs Crisis Coordinator Program to quietly covering hotel costs for students in crisis, her impact is not just institutional. It’s deeply human.
“She used to personally go to the hospital every time a student was admitted,” Soboram said. “That was her standard. And if a student didn’t have housing, she’d put them in a hotel — even if it hurt the budget. She once used her own credit card to help a student get home in an emergency. Before there was an emergency fund with her name on it, she was the emergency fund.”
It’s a sentiment echoed again and again by those she’s mentored.
“What you see is what you get,” Soboram said. “There’s no pretense. She genuinely cares. And, she expects us to care, too.”
That expectation has created a ripple effect of student-centered leadership across higher education professionals at UM. Dr. Whitely’s mentees have even gone on to lead student life divisions at universities across the country. Brandon Gross, a former UM Student Government president, now serves as an Assistant Vice President at Wayne State University.
“She changed my life,” Gross said. “I didn’t even know I wanted to work in higher ed. She helped me find that path. She gave me tough advice when I needed it, like when she told me, ‘Sometimes you have to move out to move up.’ I didn’t want to leave UM, but she was right.”
Still, she never sought recognition. For example, the Patricia A. Whitely Emergency Fund and the Unsung Hero Award that both bear her name were never her idea.
“The University community named those,” Gross said. “That speaks volumes.”
According to those she crosses paths with, what Whitely has built with purpose is a culture of presence.
“I hold most of my meetings at Starbucks now,” Whitely said. “During COVID, I realized students felt more comfortable outside my office. So I meet them where they are.”
Part of that experience now includes “Pancakes with Pat,” a tradition Whitely started in 2017. No agenda. No speeches. Just pancakes and presence.
“It’s simple,” she said. “But it matters.”
So does senior reflections, the four-week seminar she personally leads each spring for graduating seniors.
“I participated in a capstone course like it when I was an undergrad,” Whitely said. “I never forgot how meaningful that was. I wanted to bring that same experience to our students.”
If the McLamore Award honored her official role, these moments speak to something less visible but just as important: the way she holds this place together.
“She’s not just part of the university,” Kobetz said. “In many ways, she is the university.”
Putting the student experience first
Whitely has also been a steady presence through some of UM’s hardest moments. During the COVID-19 pandemic, she co-led the University’s response alongside Kobetz, coordinating with then-President Julio Frenk and UHealth to safely reopen in fall 2020.
“I came back to the office after just two weeks of working from home,” Whitely said. “I sat here, alone, for five months. We had 2,700 students who left belongings behind. We shipped boxes to all 50 states.”
She also oversaw the transformation of parts of Eaton into isolation housing. When students asked for hotel-style amenities, she made runs to Target herself, buying bedding and toiletries.
“Small changes like that mattered,” Whitely said. “It wasn’t just about reopening, it was about reopening well.”
That sense of care has defined every chapter of her career. She’s shown it in disaster management during Hurricane Andrew, in overseeing the university’s response to tragedies and in fielding late-night calls from students and parents.
“She informs the president, the provost, the trustees. She delivers the news. She makes the calls. And she shows up,” Callan said. “Not everyone does, but she always does.”
Even now, as she helps lead UM’s Centennial celebration, Whitely is thinking about students first.
“We chose alumni to speak at commencement this year,” Whitely said. “Because if you don’t showcase your own, who will?”
In the past 43 years, Whitely has worked under four university presidents—Edward Foote, Donna Shalala, Julio Frenk, and Joe Echevarria—and each one expanded her role. As of 2023, Whitely oversees Alumni Engagement, making her a bridge between generations of ’Canes.
“She remembers everyone,” said Callan. “Names, years, majors. It’s uncanny.”
But ask Whitely what she hopes her legacy will be, and she pauses.
“Student engagement. Student experience. The power of presence,” Whitely said. “These roles are temporary, but I hope that culture of care continues long after I’m gone.”