Rice holds a doctoral degree in Sociology, an M.A. in Linguistics and a B.A. in Spanish with a French minor from Florida International University. Rice helped the Florida Education Fund (FEF) in the development of a journal review process for doctoral students that incorporated a mentoring model. She received the Dr. Israel Tribble Jr. Award in 2002 from the FEF for her contribution. Rice has been a consultant to organizations as well as to governmental groups in the Caribbean. In 2012 Rice was elected to the Board of the Health Foundation of South Florida, focusing on meeting needs of underserved communities.