The Graduate School
Rhonda Paver
Child care leader
M.A., Child Development, UT Austin
In the early 1980s, Rhonda Paver was a twenty-something graduate student at The University of Texas at Austin. At the same time, she was also in the throes of growing several child development centers she had opened in 1979. Currently, Paver owns and operates a total of 11 "Stepping Stone" care centers and after school programs in Austin and College Station. Stepping Stone cares for over 1,400 young Texans and employs over 300 grown-up Texans as staff members.
Though Paver is a native Alaskan, she has been very happy to have settled and prospered in Texas. She is quick to point out that it was graduate school at UT that introduced her to doing business in the state. This is especially important in an industry like child care which is fraught with regulatory, political and cultural issues that differ from one state to another.
In the end, Paver hopes that her work has returned to central Texas some of what it has provided her. "I really believe that my work has enhanced the quality of child care in the Austin community."