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Rod Cate is a happy man. If you ever get to work alongside Rod at SideWalk, it
doesn’t take long before you realize that he’s lived a life of meaningful accomplishments.
He may be quiet on the surface, but beneath the public modesty lies an intriguing
personality. He’s a learned academic who also cares deeply about people. In short, Rod is a
rare gem in a world full of extremists, and a priceless treasure for SideWalk.
Rod studied pharmacy as an undergrad. After graduating he found a job in the field
which led to a 10-year career as a full-time pharmacist. Because he’s such a dedicated
family man, Rod worked nights, weekends, and even holidays in order to comfortably
provide for a family of four.
But he eventually tired of the pharmaceutical industry and longed for a profession
that was a little more rewarding. So Rod returned to school at Texas Tech University to
pursue a Master’s in Marriage and Family Counseling. Enjoying his studies immensely, he
went on to complete a Ph.D. in Human Development and Family Studies.

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After finishing his Ph.D., Rod explored the world of administration. Beginning as the
Department Chair, he eventually served some time as the Associate Dean for Research. His
administrative positions gave him an opportunity to troubleshoot problems, assess
workloads, and oversee the courses offered each semester. He also helped secure grants
and manage the department’s budget.
Despite Rod’s high-responsibility administrative duties, he seems to have a special
reverence for teaching. As a professor, Rod taught courses about romantic interpersonal
relationships. His focus was on intimate connections – what psychologists call “affective
bonds.” He was especially interested in how relationships form and in how they come to be
romantic.
One of his more memorable research efforts involved interviewing over 50 different
couples about how they originally got together. Rod analyzed the statistical likelihood of
the couples marrying each other. What he found was three common pathways to marriage:
1) the quick courtship (when a couple hits it off immediately and decides to get serious
about the relationship); 2) the steady & linear progression (when a relationship becomes
increasingly more serious as the couple slowly gets to know each other); and 3) the model
that starts low, stays unsure, and then suddenly spikes (when a relationship struggles with
differences in age or parental support).
Although a career in academia can have a certain stigma to it, the public perception
of pipe-smoking professors attired in tweed suits is – I assure you -- a bit outdated. And yet
to this day there’s still a sense that our campuses are filled with armchair theorists all
hopelessly disconnected from reality. Rod’s life, however, clearly demonstrates that book-
smarts need not disqualify one from engaging the human race.
After an academic career lasting nearly 30 years though, Rod was ready for
retirement. He left the University of Arizona, and moved to Olympia, Washington, to be
closer to another important passion in his life: his five grandchildren. Family has always
been important to him. Because Rod grew up as an only child, he’s always deeply cherished
the family that he’s reared and raised on his own.
People as driven and accomplished as Rod don’t often settle easily into retirement.
So upon arriving in Olympia, Rod immediately developed other projects. With the help of
some of his former grad students, Rod wrote a text book surveying his professorial studies.

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His book, “The Developmental Course of Romantic Relationships,” was published in 2013
and is still in print today.
And that brings us to SideWalk. Just what is this highly-accomplished retiree doing
with a little nonprofit organization like SideWalk? Well, even as a university professor, Rod
always wanted to work with people directly rather than objectify the learning process
through rote learning methods. So as a spiritually-inclined Democrat, when Rod heard
about SideWalk, his personal convictions were piqued. Simply put, he felt that supporting a
cause dedicated to ending homeless was “the humane thing to do.” In Rod’s mind, it’s our
moral imperative to provide for those who have unmet needs in our community.
For Rod, homelessness is really a social justice issue. Furthermore, he points out
that homelessness is in many ways a problem unique to the U.S. Statistically-speaking,
there is a smaller homeless population in European countries. A large portion of our
society, he feels, believe that people deserve their homelessness because the U.S. offers
equal opportunity to everyone to succeed in life. But this idealism is not grounded in
practical reality. Yes, we can all theoretically do anything we want to in this country, but
our opportunities are not – realistically speaking -- all equal.
Just in case this is all sounding a little off-track, Rod is ready with some clarification
for the faint of heart: ending homelessness isn’t about abolishing capitalism. So we can all
take a seat. Ending homelessness is simply about making small adjustments for the
inequities in our system. In Rod’s words, social justice should promote the “fair treatment
of people from all walks of life.” As Rod says, this is especially important because many of
us have come close to homelessness at some point in our life. It behooves us all, therefore,
to have some compassion for those who are down-and-out.
As a stability advocate for SideWalk, Rod builds rapport with his clients from the
beginning to the end of the process. This role allows Rod a chance to dedicate himself
equally to the cause and to the person. This subtle distinction is crucial to note because
advocates aren’t out to end homelessness for the sake of principle alone; they serve the
flesh and blood needs of their clients face-to-face.
After SideWalk’s clients are screened to see if they’re eligible for assistance, they’re
then assigned an advocate who assists them throughout the process of finding a place to
live. But an advocate doesn’t do the work for their clients. An advocate’s job is to inform

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their clients about resources that are available in the community while empowering them
to take the next step on their own. An advocate is equal parts educator and motivator.
Good intentions, however, are rarely without good challenges. By Rod’s own
admittance, even advocates sometimes struggle with stereotypes regarding the clientele.
Indeed, even Rod’s wholesome heart occasionally questions the causes of homelessness or
how his clients should look, sound, or act like. What he’s found though is that the
proverbial truth remains: it’s never safe to generalize.
So while the ever-honest and always selfless Rod Cate may be off of payroll, he’s not
yet retired from the human race. From the pharmacy countertop to the professorial
lectern, from the dean’s desk to SideWalk’s bustling living room, Rod Cate’s career has
consistently focused on human connections. Although he may not have a background in
theology, Rod fervently believes that God is not an isolationist. For him, God is what goes
on between people: the hidden spark that nourishes all our relationships. To that end,
SideWalk allows him to connect deeply with the community while cultivating that spark
between us all. Ultimately Rod’s career reminds us that success isn’t dependent upon how
much we make, but on how much we do for other people. With an attitude like that it’s
easy to see why Rod Cate is such a priceless treasure for both SideWalk and our
community.