56 Facts About Rice University

Rice University is noted for its applied science programs in the fields of artificial heart research, structural chemical analysis, signal processing, space science, and nanotechnology.

Rice University has been a member of the Association of American Universities since 1985 and is classified among "R1: Doctoral Universities – Very high research activity".

Rice University students are bound by the strict Honor Code, which is enforced by a student-run Honor Council.

Rice University's alumni include more than two dozen Marshall Scholars and a dozen Rhodes Scholars.

Rice University's history began with the demise of Massachusetts businessman William Marsh Rice, who had made his fortune in real estate, railroad development and cotton trading in the state of Texas.

Related searches

In 1891, Rice University decided to charter a free-tuition educational institute in Houston, bearing his name, to be created upon his death, earmarking most of his estate towards funding the project.

Rice University's will specified the institution was to be "a competitive institution of the highest grade" and that only white students would be permitted to attend.

The lawyer, Albert T Patrick, then announced that Rice had changed his will to leave the bulk of his fortune to Patrick, rather than to the creation of Rice's educational institute.

Unusual for the time, Rice University accepted coeducational admissions from its beginning, but on-campus housing would not become co-ed until 1957.

At its first commencement ceremony, held on June 12, 1916, Rice University awarded 35 bachelor's degrees and one master's degree.

Founder's Memorial Statue, a bronze statue of a seated William Marsh Rice University, holding the original plans for the campus, was dedicated in 1930, and installed in the central academic quad, facing Lovett Hall.

In 2020, Rice students petitioned the university to take down the statue due to the founder's history as slave owner.

Rice University acted as a temporary intermediary in the transfer of land between Humble Oil and Refining Company and NASA, for the creation of NASA's Manned Spacecraft Center in 1962.

Original charter of Rice Institute dictated that the university admit and educate, tuition-free, "the white inhabitants of Houston, and the state of Texas".

In 1963, the governing board of Rice University filed a lawsuit to allow the university to modify its charter to admit students of all races and to charge tuition.

In 1964, Rice officially amended the university charter to desegregate its graduate and undergraduate divisions.

The Trustees of Rice University prevailed in a lawsuit to void the racial language in the trust in 1966.

For most of its history, all of Rice University's buildings have been contained within this "outer loop".

The Academic Quad, anchored by a statue of founder William Marsh Rice University, includes Ralph Adams Cram's masterpiece, the asymmetrical Lovett Hall, the original administrative building; Fondren Library; Herzstein Hall, the original physics building and home to the largest amphitheater on campus; Sewall Hall for the social sciences and arts; Rayzor Hall for the languages; and Anderson Hall of the Architecture department.

On-campus football facility, Rice University Stadium, opened in 1950 with a capacity of 70, 000 seats.

In early 2019, Rice University announced the site where the abandoned Sears building in Midtown Houston stood, along with its surrounding area, would be transformed into "The Ion, " the hub of the 16-acre South Main Innovation District.

Rice University is chartered as a non-profit organization and is governed by a privately appointed board of trustees.

The president is advised by a Rice University Council composed of the provost, eight members of the Faculty Council, two staff members, one graduate student, and two undergraduate students.

Each of Rice University's departments is organized into one of three distribution groups, and students whose major lies within the scope of one group must take at least 3 courses of at least 3 credit hours each of approved distribution classes in each of the other two groups, as well as completing one physical education course as part of the LPAP requirement.

Rice University has recently begun to offer minors in areas such as business, energy and water sustainability, and global health.

Related searches

Almost all Rice University exams are unproctored and professors give timed, closed-book exams that students take home and complete at their own convenience.

Rice University is noted for its applied science programs in the fields of nanotechnology, artificial heart research, structural chemical analysis, signal processing and space science, being ranked 1st in the world in materials science research by the Times Higher Education in 2010.

In 2020, Rice was ranked 105th in the world by the Times Higher Education World University Rankings.

In 2020, Rice University was ranked tied for 95th internationally by the Academic Ranking of World Universities.

Rice University was ranked 85th globally in 2020 by QS World University Rankings.

Rice University is noted for its entrepreneurial activity, and has been recognized as the top ranked business incubator in the world by the Stockholm-based UBI Index for both 2013 and 2014.

In 1957, Rice University implemented a residential college system, which was proposed by the university's first president, Edgar Odell Lovett.

Rice University Coffeehouse began in Hanszen College, where students would serve coffee in the Weenie Loft, a study room in the old section's fourth floor.

Rice University Coffeehouse has adopted an unofficial mascot, the squirrel, which can be found on T-shirts, mugs, and bumper stickers stuck on laptops across campus.

On February 15, 2022, the Rice University Thresher announced the rebranding of Willy's Pub as The Pub at Rice University.

Rice University Bikes is a full-service on-campus bicycle sale, rental, and repair shop.

Rice University Bikes merged with a student-run bicycle rental business in 2013, and operations moved to the Rice University Memorial Center in 2014.

Rice University Bikes sells refurbished bicycles bought from students and functions as a full bicycle repair shop.

Rice University has a weekly student newspaper, a yearbook (The Campanile), college radio station (KTRU Rice University Radio), and now defunct, campus-wide student television station (RTV5).

Rice University Thresher is published every Wednesday and is ranked by Princeton Review as one of the top campus newspapers nationally for student readership.

Rice University Campanile was first published in 1916 celebrating Rice University's first graduating class.

Rice Review, known as R2, is a yearly student-run literary journal at Rice University that publishes prose, poetry, and creative nonfiction written by undergraduate students, as well as interviews.

Rice University Standard was an independent, student-run variety magazine modeled after such publications as The New Yorker and Harper's.

The Rice University Standard had around 20 regular contributors, and the site features new content every day.

Rice University plays in NCAA Division I athletics and is part of Conference USA.

Related searches

Rice University was a member of the Western Athletic Conference before joining Conference USA in 2005.

Rice University is the second-smallest school, measured by undergraduate enrollment, competing in NCAA Division I FBS football, only ahead of Tulsa.

In 2004, Rice University became the first school ever to have three players selected in the first eight picks of the MLB draft when Philip Humber, Jeff Niemann, and Wade Townsend were selected third, fourth, and eighth, respectively.

On December 22, 2006, Rice University played in the New Orleans Bowl in New Orleans, Louisiana against the Sun Belt Conference champion, Troy.

Rice University has a 12-member coed cheerleading squad and a coed dance team, both of which perform at football and basketball games throughout the year.

Over 100 students at Rice University have been Fulbright Scholars, 25 Marshall Scholars, 25 Mellon Fellows, 12 Rhodes Scholars, 6 Udall Scholars, and 65 Watson Fellows, among several other honors and awards.

Alumni of Rice have occupied top positions in business, including Thomas H Cruikshank, the former CEO of Halliburton; John Doerr, billionaire and venture capitalist; Howard Hughes; and Fred C Koch.

In government and politics, Rice alumni include Alberto Gonzales, former Attorney General; Charles Duncan, former Secretary of Energy; William P Hobby, Jr.

Notable entrepreneurs from Rice University include Elizabeth Avellan, co-founder of Troublemaker Studios, Tim and Karrie League, founders of the Alamo Drafthouse Cinema and Drafthouse Films, and Brian Armstrong, founder and CEO of Coinbase.

In science and technology, Rice University alumni include 14 NASA astronauts; Robert Curl, Nobel laureate discoverer of fullerene; Robert Woodrow Wilson, winner of the Nobel Prize in Physics for the discovery of cosmic microwave background radiation; David Eagleman, celebrity neuroscientist and NYT bestselling author; and NASA former Apollo 11 and 13 warning systems engineer and motivational speaker Jerry Woodfill.

Rice University athletes include Lance Berkman, Brock Holt, Bubba Crosby, Harold Solomon, Frank Ryan, Tommy Kramer, Jose Cruz, Jr.