Rocky Mountain University: From top secret to top teacher, Dr. Rhodri Purcell’s career has been a fulfilling journey
-
- A Rocky Mountain University of Health Professions associate professor teaches students during a class in Provo.
-
- Rocky Mountain University of Health Professions associate professor Rhodri Purcell poses for a photo in his classroom in Provo.
-
- Rocky Mountain University of Health Professions associate professor teaches students during a class in Provo.
-
- Rocky Mountain University of Health Professions associate professor Rhodri Purcell poses for a photo in front of a scenic backdrop.
-
- Rocky Mountain University of Health Professions associate professor Rhodri Purcell plays with his son.
-
- Rocky Mountain University of Health Professions associate professor Rhodri Purcell poses for a photo in front of a scenic backdrop.
If Rocky Mountain University of Health Professions associate professor Rhodri Purcell told you exactly what he did for a living after graduating from Brigham Young University in 1993, he’d have to kill you.
OK, that wouldn’t really happen. He’s a peaceful, friendly, and caring human being who goes out of his way to make life better for others. But for legal reasons, Purcell is unable to divulge classified information about what he did in the mid-1990s as a military intelligence officer in his first post-college job.
While that clandestine gig sounds like a spy movie plot, it pales in comparison to what Purcell hoped to become when he enlisted in the Air Force in high school. Influenced by Top Gun, he aspired to be a fighter pilot as a teenager growing up in Manti, Utah, during the 1980s.
As fate had it, the dream job was ruled out because of his poor vision.
Instead of becoming the next Maverick or Iceman, Purcell’s Plan B included doing intelligency things on a military base. Even though he was stationed in paradisical Hawaii, he opted for a different career path when he finished his four-year service obligation.
Thirty years later, it’s safe (and permissible) to say Plan C has turned out splendidly – and his success isn’t a top secret.
Currently teaching in RMU’s Doctor of Physical Therapy program, Purcell has enjoyed a productive career as a physical therapist and healthcare professor. He also volunteers as a mentor at RMU’s pro-bono, student-run Physical Therapy Clinic on State Street in Provo.
In recognition for his history of exceptional and dedicated teaching, Purcell was recently recognized with RMU’s highest honor for faculty members — the 2025 Hartgraves Award for Excellence in Teaching. He received multiple nominations from colleagues, RMU alumni, and current students.
“Dr. Purcell has a way of making kinesiology not just understandable but enjoyable,” a peer wrote. “He takes complex concepts and breaks them down in a way that makes sense.”
Another colleague added, “Dr. Purcell is an exceptional educator who goes the extra mile for students, teaches with compassion, and inspires curiosity and the motivation to aim higher for all in his classroom.”
Students also raved about his teaching approach. “One of my favorite professors of all time to this point in my education from undergrad to now,” one RMU Doctor of Physical Therapy (DPT) student proclaimed. He was also lauded for exemplifying “true care” for his students: “I felt like he truly wanted us to be successful more than his job requires and that he deeply cares about his students.”
As humbling and special as it is to receive awards, Purcell is deeply moved by the feedback.
“Reading the letters that colleagues and students wrote just made my year,” he said.
It’s gratifying for him to teach the next generation of physical therapy students and to know that he’s making an impact on them and on the people they treat. He even stepped down from his clinical practice at Utah Valley Hospital to devote more time to helping students and their patients.
“I love supervising students,” Purcell said. “I love how the clinic is pro bono and that we’re giving back to the community and to all the people who don’t have insurance who wouldn’t get physical therapy if we didn’t have our doors open. It’s just really rewarding and fulfilling.”
From personal experience, Purcell knows what it’s like to be on the receiving end of physical therapy success stories.
While stationed at Hickam Air Force Base in Oahu as an intelligence officer, Purcell didn’t particularly love being locked up in a windowless vault for eight hours to collect sensitive data for his daily work shift. He couldn’t even tell his wife exactly what he did because he signed a non-disclosure agreement to not divulge what he’d observed for 70 years after retirement. (Spoiler: He says the secret info was “nothing crazy and cool” and jokingly added, “I’m not James Bond.”)
“It was not fulfilling,” Purcell admitted. “I asked myself, ‘What am I really doing for the world?'”
While Purcell honored his military commitment in Hawaii, his oldest son Colton, a young toddler at the time, received a lot of therapy to treat a rare form of dwarfism he’d been born with. When the son was born on the mainland a year or so earlier, the family was told by doctors that he’d never be able to walk because of this condition.
Purcell will always be grateful that the therapists at the Shriner Children’s Hospital in Honolulu didn’t share that bleak outlook.
“When we got to Hawaii, these therapists looked at him and looked at us and said, ‘We’ll get him walking,'” Purcell said. “I loved their attitude — and then they did it. They got him walking.”
The caring therapists not only helped his young son walk – they inspired his career path. He suddenly knew what he wanted to be, and it wasn’t a fighter pilot or intelligence officer. Purcell wanted to become a physical therapist.
“I was hooked,” he said. “I thought, ‘Man, now that’s a fulfilling career right there.’ And so that’s when I started looking into it.”
Fast forward a few decades, and both Purcell and his son are doing well.
Colton, now 31, earned a master’s degree in commercial music, teaches piano, has occasional gigs, does sound for theater productions and writes music for video games.
Purcell, who’d graduated from BYU with a bachelor’s degree in therapeutic recreation, took some pre-requisite classes while still stationed in Hawaii before graduating with a Master of Physical Therapy degree from Idaho State in 2001. Wanting to complement his PT practice and become more proficient at teaching, he earned a Doctor of Education degree with an emphasis on adult education from Capella University in 2019.
Purcell’s career as a licensed physical therapist spanned a variety of settings — from military, acute care, home health, pediatrics and outpatient orthopedics. He has been a board-certified clinical specialist in orthopaedic physical therapy since 2005 and is a certified strength and conditioning specialist through the National Strength and Conditioning Association.
Prior to joining RMU six years ago, and teaching kinesiology to graduate students, he worked in leadership positions in Provo College’s physical therapy assistant program.
Though he didn’t get a cool call sign as a pilot, Purcell, an active outdoors enthusiast and loving family man, has made a positive impact on countless lives.
“Once I made the choice, I never looked back. It was a great choice for me — a perfect fit,” Purcell said. “The rewarding part of PT for me is seeing people’s lives improve because of something I helped them with. That’s just a huge fulfillment for me. I love it.
“And,” he added, “I just love that teaching part of being a PT. I send out 100 students every year that I’ve played some part in shaping and they go out and are now treating patients and changing lives. I see it as a way that I can expand that fulfillment even more.”
Jody Genessy is the senior content writer for Rocky Mountain University of Health Professions.
