The Thresher tours the new O’Connor building
The O’Connor Building for Engineering and Science was officially inaugurated in a Sept. 14 ribbon cutting ceremony.
The O’Connor Building for Engineering and Science was officially inaugurated in a Sept. 14 ribbon cutting ceremony.
The Rice Biotech Launch Pad accelerator was announced on the 61st anniversary of President John F. Kennedy’s moonshot speech. This initiative aims to develop new research and emerging technologies into practical clinical applications by bridging the gap between researchers, medical companies and healthcare professionals, Omid Veiseh said.
Rice is celebrating National Hispanic Heritage Month from Sept. 15 to Oct. 15 to recognize the achievements of the Hispanic American community, as well as their contributions to the culture in the U.S. and at Rice. This year, the Hispanic Heritage Month planning committee has renamed the event to “Our Heritage Month.”
Rice Health Advisors have launched a new website that includes a description of the RHA role on campus, a list of RHAs across campus and a compilation of curated resources.
Rice ranks No. 9 in the Niche.com “2024 Best Colleges in America,” No. 17 in the U.S. News and World Report “Best National University Rankings” and No. 64 in the Wall Street Journal’s “2024 Best Colleges in the U.S.”
A sign in the Rice Memorial Center reiterates Rice Policy 854. The university placed additional restrictions on micro-mobility devices Sept. 6.
Amid a national blood shortage exacerbated by ongoing climate emergencies, Rice Emergency Medical Services partnered with the Gulf Coast Regional Blood Center to host a blood drive Sept. 12 in the new O'Connor Building for Engineering and Science.
The Student Association passed a resolution Sept. 11 congratulating the Rice Owls football team on winning the 2023 Bayou Bucket and reaffirming the senate’s support of Rice’s student-athletes.
Housing and Dining, Student Success Initiatives and the Student Association have launched their fourth year of the meal swipe donation program to address food insecurity among students, especially for those living off-campus. According to Interim Associate Vice President of H&D David McDonald, 8,140 swipes were donated this year, in comparison to the estimated 4,400 swipes that were donated at the start of the spring 2023 semester and the 800 swipes that were donated when the program began in spring 2020.
Rice established three new research institutes this summer in medical humanities, advanced materials and sustainability. The university also increased funding for the Ken Kennedy Institute and Smalley-Curl Institute, investigating interdisciplinary uses of artificial intelligence and applied physics, respectively, and approved a Synthetic Biology Institute to complement these programs, according to Executive Vice President for Research Ramamoorthy Ramesh.
Qimiao Si, a professor of physics and astronomy, and Jeffrey Tabor, a professor of bioengineering and biosciences, have been awarded Vannevar Bush Faculty Fellowships by the U.S. Department of Defense. The award comes with a five-year fellowship and $3 million in research funding to continue work in their respective fields.
The Rice University Police Department will no longer charge residential colleges for the security they provide during publics. Instead, residential colleges must now hire at least two Housing and Dining custodial staff to clean up biohazardous waste afterwards.
As Texas closes the doors of queer resource centers at public universities across the state, Rice Pride is opening theirs. On June 14, Gov. Greg Abbott signed a law banning diversity, equity and inclusion offices and initiatives at state-funded universities in Texas, as well as the hiring or assignment of an employee to conduct DEI office duties.
The first two weeks of classes have seen a rise in COVID-19 cases among the campus community. The number of positive cases is unknown as Rice stopped collecting data and phased out Crisis Management’s COVID resources.
Students are required to have their seasonal flu vaccination prior to the start of spring class registration, Oct. 27. To facilitate this process, the university is holding vaccine clinics Sept. 14, 19, 27 and Oct. 5, according to a campus-wide email sent by Student Health Services Aug. 28.
Baker Christmas, formerly a campus-wide public party, will now be Baker-only, according to Baker College President Jonah Wagner. A new Baker public is being planned for the spring semester.
Michelle “Mikki” Hebl was awarded the Advancing Women in Leadership award by the diversity, equity and inclusion division of the Academy of Management, acknowledging her contributions to education to help the development of women in leadership. Hebl is the Martha and Henry Malcolm Lovett Chair of Psychology and a professor of management at the Jones Graduate School of Business.
Housing and Dining launched new dining plan options for graduate students this year, accommodating 300 graduate students during the 11:30 a.m. to 1:30 pm lunch period and 600 graduate students during the 2 pm to 4 p.m. “munch” period.
Rice Coffeehouse is closed Aug. 31 through Sept. 4 due to an increase in COVID-19 cases on campus. This is two days earlier than planned for the Labor Day holiday, according to General Manager Caroline Leung.
The first public of the year, Martel College’s “Don’t Mess With Texas” party, took place Aug. 26. The capacity for the public was 1,200 people, with 350 allowed on the sundeck. The sundeck line closed at 10:15 p.m. — 15 minutes after the public started — due to capacity restrictions, Martel socials committee head Audrey Pizzolato said.