Rice University’s Student Newspaper — Since 1916

Thursday, March 28, 2024 — Houston, TX

Features


FEATURES 3/26/24 10:56pm

The road less taken: travel scholarships at Hanszen, Wiess Hanszen, Wiess

Touring a tobacco farm in Cuba, eating at a Michelin-starred bistro in Paris or visiting urban gardens in Spain: unique experiences abound when venturing beyond the hedges. Though the Rice Office of Study Abroad offers a variety of scholarships for students interested in academic travel, lesser-known are Hanszen and Wiess Colleges’ travel scholarships. 


FEATURES 3/26/24 10:55pm

Magisterial matters: a look back at renaming

From wearing jackets that advertise their colleges to disciplining students when their checks bounced, magisters have had a myriad of responsibilities throughout the years. The 2017 change of their title from masters to magisters reflected a debate about whether their once-title, reminiscent of slavery’s use of the term master, correctly captured the essence of those responsibilities. 


FEATURES 3/26/24 10:49pm

Colette Nicolaou on love, learning and lecture

In 2011, Colette Nicolaou left her home in Los Angeles — along with her family, her friends and a job she loved — and followed a boy to Houston. She knew no one and her psychologist license wasn’t valid in Texas. She did it for love, Nicolaou said. Soon after her arrival in Texas, she married her now-husband.  


FEATURES 3/19/24 10:20pm

Changeover traditions: greeting or punishment?

Baking, roasting and challenges: This isn’t the recipe for your favorite cooking show, they’re college changeover traditions. The outgoing college government leaders are about to leave, ceding their positions to those rising sophomores, juniors and seniors in need of a resume booster – though some are motivated by an altruistic love for their college. This power vacuum needs to be filled and nearly every college celebrates changeover in a slightly different way, from the whimsical to the disgusting. 



FEATURES 3/19/24 10:19pm

Rice business clubs bring in the big bucks

Energized by Apple Stocks notifications and armed with Audrey’s lattes, teams of Rice students are recreating Shark Tank here on campus. The rapidly growing business major’s popularity has made way for investing clubs with hundreds of thousands of dollars of funding. 



FEATURES 3/5/24 10:07pm

AI in the archives: Fondren Library explores new tech

From Grammarly and Quizlet to SparkNotes and Spotify, artificial intelligence is now a major feature of nearly every website — and the archives of Fondren Library are no exception. The use of AI has been a notoriously hot-button topic for the last few years, involved in artist exploitation debates and the terms of the Writers Guild of America strike, but in the Woodson Research Center, its role has been to facilitate greater ease and expediency in many of their preservation and transcription processes. 


FEATURES 3/5/24 10:07pm

Isabella Avilez pieces together a puzzling world

Isabella Avilez is a problem solver. As co-president of Rice Escape, she got the club back on its feet after it was felled by the COVID-19 pandemic. As a mechanical engineering major with a passion for renewable energy, she attempts to find ways to power the world’s technologies while leaving space for a sustainable future. And as a friend, she’s an expert at turning a rough week into a pleasant smile.



FEATURES 2/28/24 7:27pm

Melinda Spaulding Chevalier chases new storms

Melinda Spaulding Chevalier, Rice’s vice president for public affairs since August 2023, is more familiar with being the reporter than the story. Before working in communications, public affairs and higher education, she spent decades in journalism and was recognized by organizations like the Associated Press and the Emmy Awards.


FEATURES 2/27/24 10:36pm

Vivian Phillips ​​takes center stage

Vivian Phillips is polyphonic — whether writing a story, performing at the Riot Comedy Club or competing at the Miss Bayou City pageant, she knows just what to say. She first found her passion for English at Vassar College, a liberal arts college in upstate New York, before transferring to Rice her sophomore year.



FEATURES 2/27/24 10:33pm

Ruth Simmons stays true to herself

Ruth Simmons’ career has taken her all across the country — from Houston’s Third Ward to Smith College in Massachusetts to Brown University where she became the first Black female president of an Ivy League School and back to Houston again. 


FEATURES 2/27/24 10:30pm

VADA explores Bay Area art

While many Rice students spent their midterm recesses studying, visiting family or lazing about, juniors majoring in Visual and Dramatic Arts  — now simply Art —  had an excursion to California’s Bay Area, exploring their prospective futures in the visual world.


FEATURES 2/27/24 10:29pm

Colleges go green recycling O-Week themes for 2024

Preparation for next year’s Orientation Week has already begun. Advisors have been selected and co-advisors have applied. Themes have been announced and, in one case, re-announced. Argue with your friends over which are fantastic and which shouldn’t have made it past the drawing board (or out of the recycling bin). 



FEATURES 2/20/24 9:54pm

Nancy Niedzielski shares her love for Lovett

While most universities have student resident assistants overseeing housing, Rice’s culture is defined by its rare residential college system, which features adult magisters and resident advisors. Lovett College’s current magisters, Mike Gustin and Denise Klein, are finishing their last year in the role.


FEATURES 2/20/24 9:52pm

Well, well, well: how Rice stays hydrated

Those who walk near the Ralph S. O’Connor Building for Engineering and Science may hear the faint droning noise of machinery coming from the Central Plant, one of Rice’s two power plants that provide energy and water to the campus. Through the maze of pipes, wires and metal structures stands a fence door guarding one of the Rice’s lifelines — a water well.