Students knew Cecil Rhodes as a professor and mentor. Colleagues knew him as a thoughtful campus leader. For Stanislaus State’s Criminal Justice program, he was one of the people who helped build its foundation.
Over nearly two decades at Stanislaus State, Rhodes helped develop the University’s undergraduate criminal justice curriculum, created its master’s degree program and served in leadership roles that included chair of the Department of Sociology and Criminal Justice and interim provost and vice president for the Division of Academic Affairs.
Rhodes joined Stanislaus State in 1987 as director of personnel and employee relations before beginning to teach business law in the College of Business Administration the following year. In 1989, he became an assistant professor of criminal justice and coordinator of the University’s then-new Criminal Justice program.
He chaired the Department of Sociology and Criminal Justice from 1994 to 1999. That same year, he was appointed executive assistant to then-President Marvalene Hughes. He later served as interim provost and vice president for the Division of Academic Affairs during the 2001-02 academic year.
Born Oct. 18, 1945, in St. Louis, Rhodes moved with his family to Fresno in 1948. From working in the crop fields of rural Fresno, he went on to graduate from Fresno State, in 1973, and he earned his law degree from Western State University College of Law in San Diego in 1980.
Before and during his career in higher education, Rhodes held personnel, labor relations and legal positions throughout California. He also taught at San Diego City College, Cal State Fullerton, the University of the Pacific, Golden Gate University and Modesto Junior College.
Rhodes’ impact as a teacher and mentor remained vivid for those who learned from him and worked alongside him.
In a public remembrance shared after his passing, former colleague Phyllis Gerstenfeld wrote that Rhodes hired her at Stan State when she was fresh out of graduate school and became a mentor to her.
“I was especially impressed with his enthusiasm for teaching,” Gerstenfeld wrote. “I could always hear him lecturing when I was well down the hallway, and he always had students surrounding him for advice or just plain chatting.
“He had a big, bright personality and will be missed by the many people who had the good fortune to interact with him,” she wrote.
Former student Tim David, a 2007 criminal justice graduate, remembered taking Rhodes’ final class before retirement.
“He was an amazing storyteller and educator,” David wrote in a public remembrance. “I probably didn’t appreciate his wisdom and guidance at the time, but I look back with the fondest of gratitude.”
Among the students Rhodes mentored was Stanislaus State alumnus and San Francisco Deputy Public Defender Jacque Wilson, who has reflected on Rhodes’ influence while discussing the educators who helped shape his path in law and public service.
Rhodes was named Stanislaus State’s 1996-97 Outstanding Professor and received the 2006 College of Arts, Letters and Sciences Outstanding Teacher Award. In 2003, he received the Stanislaus County Bar Association’s Law Day Liberty Bell Award.
When Rhodes retired in 2007, the University established the Cecil A. Rhodes Endowed Scholarship in Criminal Justice in recognition of his service and impact on students.
Outside the University, Rhodes was a decorated Vietnam veteran and active community member who served on numerous boards, commissions and committees throughout his life.
Rhodes died May 10, 2025, in Modesto. He was 79.
He is survived by his daughters, Michelle Vocke and Bree Rhodes; grandsons Joseph Cameron Rhodes Murdock and Hunter Rhodes-Collins; sister Helen Polk; and many extended family members and friends.
