This Week's Front Page
Though Houston may be a good city for concerts, multi-ethnic cuisine and shopping, it is not for cheap energy. At the end of fiscal year 2007-'08, which ended in June, Rice's total energy costs rose $4 million, from $12 million to $16 million. Director of Sustainability Richard Johnson (Will Rice '92) said this jump is attributed to the rising costs of energy and not to increased consumption. (0) comments
The Princeton Review ranked Rice number two in the categories of best quality of life and best race/class interaction and number 15 in the category of happiest students out of 368 best U.S. colleges profiled. The results of the annual survey were compiled online from a mixture of freshmen, sophomores, juniors and seniors in the past three years from 2005 to 2007. (0) comments
Former Rice student Matthew Wilson was found Aug. 13 at the University of California, Berkeley campus. According to the Houston Chronicle, the prosecution dropped all charges - which included trespassing, lying to a police officer and possessing stolen property - against Wilson. (5) comments
Orientation Week is the only week of the year in which on-campus residents are expected to follow a strict dry policy, meaning that they will not consume alcohol from midnight the Saturday prior to O-Week to the following Saturday at noon. But it appears a group of students this week did not bother to read the fine print. (2) comments
While students and faculty may have been taking a break for the summer holidays, it appears internet scammers have been hard at work. Since February, there have been 14 rounds of phishing attacks, which led to a massive Rice e-mail blacklisting from several major e-mail providers this summer. (1) comment
The perpetually popular student pastime of spending hours on the Internet toggling from e-mail to social networking sites has certainly caught the eye of the public affairs department, given last month's debut of the official Rice fan page on www.facebook. (0) comments
The Virginia and L.E. Simmons Family Foundation donated $3 million in May to enable researchers from Rice, Texas Children's Hospital and Methodist Hospital to work together to conduct biomedical research. Simmons said there were two factors behind the birth of the grant: One has to do with cross-disciplinary research involving genetics, mental sciences, imaging, physics, biochemistry and mathematics; another has to do with the increasing difficulty of securing funding from the National Institute of Health, which he said is a key source of medical-oriented financing. (0) comments
Students looking to pay less for their daily commute to campus will have access to two alternatives this year: Zipcar and NuRide. Zipcar, which is targeted at students, is a car rental service. NuRide, intended primarily for faculty and staff, is a carpooling service. (2) comments
Computational Engineering Professor Moshe Vardi received the Association for Computing Machinery Presidential Award June 21, in recognition of his contributions both to the field and the association. Vardi, the director of the Ken Kennedy Institute for Information Technology, led the ACM Job Migration Task Force, which studied the phenomenon of offshoring and its effects on the U. (0) comments
Tani Barlow, a professor of history and women's studies from the University of Washington, was appointed in May to be the director of the Chao Center for Asian Studies and the Ting Tsung and Wei Fong Chao Professor of Asian Studies. Due to a previous commitment, Barlow will spend the fall semester at the National University of Singapore and begin her official duties as director Jan. (1) comment
In addition to the outward changes to the Rice Athletic Department after the hiring of Athletic Director Chris Del Conte, most notably improvements to Reckling Park and Autry Court, changes are also occurring from within the Athletic Department, as Suzanne Boué (Wiess '91) has been named Assistant Athletic Director for Student-Athlete Development. (0) comments
While students were gone for the summer, visitors flocked to Rice through the latest addition to the Rice Web site: a virtual tour of the university designed to present the brighter sides of campus to alumni and prospective students. The tour, which was put online July 11, features 360-degree views of 16 sites at Rice and in the surrounding area, from the Sallyport entrance at Lovett Hall to the middle of a baseball game at Reckling Park. (1) comment
In an effort to make technological woes easier on the Rice community, a new Information Technology self-service Web site was created in June to address basic concerns for students and faculty. The Web site allows users to easily modify basic settings such as changing one's Net Identification and password, creating a vanity e-mail address apart from the standard NetID and full name addresses, viewing the amount of storage space left in the Rice e-mail account, increasing mailbox quota, viewing on-campus printing charges and adjusting spam filter settings. (0) comments
The Rice Annual Fund raised an all-time high of $6.35 million last year, providing more money for a variety of undergraduate programs including scholarships, fellowships and residential college life. The money raised by the annual fund is classified as unrestricted funds, meaning the entirety of the money raised in a given fiscal year is spent on programs that will directly impact students, such as scholarships, fellowships, residential college life and books and subscriptions for Fondren Library. (0) comments
Not to be overshadowed by the well-established programs in other Rice departments, the social sciences department is increasing its visibility with a new Ph.D. program in sociology. A $6.4 million grant from the Houston Endowment will establish the first sociology Ph. (0) comments
Students and faculty are accustomed to seeing flora and fauna around campus, but green roofing on four Rice buildings will give landscaping an entirely new dimension. Rooftop gardens, designed to improve buildings' sustainability and expand roof lifespan, will be installed on Duncan College, the Collaborative Research Center, the Oshman Engineering Design Kitchen and the South Utility Plant. (0) comments
Rice entered the 21st century this summer with security doors and locks boasting a new magnetic card swipe to gain entry into doorways. Though using a student identification card instead of a hard key to enter doors is not a new concept, Martel College is the first to test out a new system that allows Housing and Dining to activate and deactivate room access via a wireless network instead of manual configuration. (0) comments
Statistics Professor David Scott received the American Statistical Association Founders Award Aug. 5. Scott is one of the founding members of the Rice statistics department and earned the award to honor his lifetime of service to the ASA. His service to the organization includes organizing meetings and editing statistical journals. (0) comments
Over 700 freshmen got their first taste of the academic life Monday when they crammed into the Stude Concert Hall for the Orientation Week faculty address. Director of the James A. Baker III Institute for Public Policy Edward Djerejian spoke to the new students about better understanding international conflict, tying in global politics to this year's common reading, Greg Mortenson's Three Cups of Tea. (0) comments
Much like last summer, students returning this fall may be surprised to see new green fences on campus. Facilities, Engineering & Planning Communications Director Susann Glenn, however, hopes students will be more impressed by the progress FE&P has made with its construction projects. (0) comments
Between hairy, shirtless men, glowstick raving in the Sallyport and the university president decked out in bling, this year's Orientation Week has been chock full of 'interesting' moments. O-Week is that special time of year when the campus can quench its creatiev thirst without worry of academia, all while showing our newly matriculated students the ropes and horrors of Rice life. (0) comments