Jason Rice
Program Coordinator
Jason has lived in Morgantown all of his life, graduating from Morgantown High School and West Virginia University with a degree in Criminology & Investigations. He began working for the department in April 2023. Prior to working for WVU, Jason worked at the Monongalia County 9-1-1 center and Department of Homeland Security and Emergency Management for nearly a decade as a dispatcher then as assistant director. Jason then worked at the NASA Katherine Johnson Independent Verification & Validation (IV&V) facility for ten years, first as a junior systems engineer and subject matter expert for New York City's Emergency Communications Transformation Project. Later, he worked side-by-side with government and private partners to provide software assurance services under the Safety & Mission Assurance Directorate for the nation's space program and commercial crew program.
Jason wears many hats in the Communication Studies Department. He manages the daily operations of the department, including assisting students with schedules, registration & holds, processing graduate student applications, and coordinating admissions to the department's online MA program while acting as advisor for MA students around the world, to name a few. Jason enjoys his job and his interactions with students and faculty.
In his free time, Jason enjoys spending time at home with his wife, Cassie, and their two dogs, Pepper and Cosmo. Jason has been a volunteer firefighter in Monongalia County since the age of 16 and enjoys the opportunity to give back to the community while helping people. He also enjoys reading and binge-watching a good TV series, but was told "that's not a hobby."
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