Encouraging Students to Take Risks
Patrick Harris' Journey to Snap Inc. President of Americas & Global Partnerships

For Patrick Harris ’98, the road to becoming president of Snap Inc. in the Americas might never have been traveled — if it wasn’t for advice he received as an undergrad from a professor at the University of San Diego.
While taking an HTML class during what Harris calls the days of “early internet,” his professor, Robert Hanczor, said to him, “You know if you’re really interested in pursuing media as a career, you should probably go to New York and do an internship,” Harris recalls.
It piqued Harris's curiosity, a communication studies major with a minor in business, so he decided to go for it. The summer before his senior year at USD, Harris interned at Turner Broadcasting Interactive for a new website at the time, CNN.com. From there, he caught the internet bug, and the experience reinforced his desire to work in media, although he did “not really know what part of media I wanted to be connected to.”
“It’s amazing the difference even just one professor can make,” Harris says. Since graduating from USD, he’s held roles at internet search engine Ask Jeeves, ad agency Reprise Media, Microsoft before it became Bing, and perhaps most notably Facebook (now Meta) for 12 years. “It’s small moments that led to all of these progressions,” Harris says.
Read the full article on page 38 of Arts & Sciences magazine (Fall 2024 issue).
The USD College of Arts and Sciences released its second annual Arts & Sciences magazine this fall. In the pages of this magazine, you will discover exciting new programs and initiatives, meaningful and impactful stories, and inspiring student, faculty and alumni spotlights.