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NEWS 4/9/09 7:00pm

Freshman wins electric car

Move over electric slide; Lovett College freshman Josh Rutenberg, winner of the Miles Revolution Contest, is dancing to the hum of an electric car. The contest, hosted by the Miles Electric Vehicles company, which manufactures fully electric vehicles, awarded a $1,000 scholarship to a student based on which entrant's video, centered on the electric car, received the most views on YouTube. Rutenberg's three-minute video trumped the other 14 competing videos by gaining 20,000 hits by the end of the competition in March. In addition to providing Rutenberg with the scholarship, the company presented a ZX40S electric car to Rice University.


NEWS 4/9/09 7:00pm

Art around Willy's statue to honor donors

The statue of William Marsh Rice in the academic quadrangle may be getting a new neighbor. Construction has been planned in the academic quad to honor the members of the Rice University Legacy Society, a group of approximately 50 corporations, foundations and individuals who have contributed at least $4.6 million to the university, the amount Rice gifted in his will to establish Rice University. Construction may be completed in 2012, Rice President David Leebron said.


NEWS 3/26/09 7:00pm

Will Rice rides record times to Beer Bike sweep

The results of Rice University's favorite event of the year, Beer Bike, are out, and Will Rice College broke the women's track record at 16 minutes flat. The record-setting time helped Will Rice seal a sweep of the men's, women's and alumni races.This is the fourth time that Will Rice has swept. Will Rice is the only college to have won all three races in the same year in the over fifty-year-long history of the intercollegiate biking and chugging relay race. Will Rice's last sweep was in 1999, and its previous two sweeps were both in the 1980's.


NEWS 3/26/09 7:00pm

SA passes new bylaw

The Rice Student Association voted to pass a by-law amendment to the SA Constitution Monday, instating the SA president as one of two undergraduate representatives to University Council beginning in the 2009-'10 academic year. The University Council, one of Rice University's advisory groups for the university president, serves as a method of communication between President David Leebron and the rest of the university. The University Council is comprised of Faculty Senate members, the faculty speaker and deputy speaker of the Faculty Senate, two graduate representatives and two undergraduate representatives.


NEWS 3/12/09 7:00pm

Former Rice professor dies in Kenya

Atieno Odhiambo, groundbreaking African history scholar and Rice professor of History for nearly two decades, died Feb. 25 after being diagnosed with a degenerative illness. He was 63. A contributor to 14 books as author, co-author and editor, Odhiambo also wrote countless articles and chapters concerning African historiography, colonialism and various aspects of historical development in East Africa.


NEWS 3/12/09 7:00pm

Tuition swells yet again for undergraduates

Rice University undergraduate tuition will increase by 4.9 percent, or $1,470, for the 2009-2010 academic year, reaching $31,430, and Housing and Dining fees will increase 4.5 percent, or $480, to total $11,230, President David Leebron announced at the Student Association's Rice Financial Forum Wednesday night. Rice's percentage increase of undergraduate tuition is the same as the increases at Washington University, Vanderbilt University and Cornell University, but one percentage point or more higher than the changes at Princeton University, Harvard University and Massachusetts Institute of Technology, according to Vice President for Finance Kathy Collins' survey of undergraduate tuition changes at schools in the Association of American Universities. However, Collins highlighted Rice's financial aid packages as a difference between Rice and other universities.


NEWS 2/26/09 6:00pm

Griffins to replace Morrises as Hanszen masters in fall

Hanszen College announced its new college masters during a Hanszen-only lunch last Friday: Civil and Environmental Engineering Professor Rob Griffin, his wife Ann and their children, six-year-old Liam and three-year-old Meredith, chair of the Hanszen Master Search Committee Ted Wieber said. Wieber, a senior, said he and Hanszen President Abbie Ryan presented the Griffin family, who emerged from an elevator at the end of Wieber's speech, in front of the biggest Hanszen lunch turnout he had ever seen.


NEWS 2/19/09 6:00pm

100 Days draws 650 students

Last week's senior party, 100 Days, launched the countdown to graduation when 650 students, 150 more than last year, mixed and mingled on the dance floor at Club 26ten.Senior Committee Head Dylan Guyer said that the club was filled to capacity after selling all remaining tickets at the door.


NEWS 2/12/09 6:00pm

Rondelet to be on campus, Moulin Rouge-themed

Break out your can-can outfits; Rice University's spring formal, Rondelet, will be Moulin Rouge-themed and will take place in the Rice Memorial Center's Grand Hall on Feb. 21, marking the second semester in a row that the Rice Program Council has opted for an on-campus formal event. The decision to keep the dance nearby was a direct response to student input about last semester's formal, Esperanza, which took place in a large tent rented for Rice Annual Fund events during Homecoming, RPC Formals Committee Co-Chair Esra Gumuser said.


NEWS 2/5/09 6:00pm

February Q&A with President Leebron

Beginning this week, the Thresher will conduct a monthly interview with President David Leebron to ask him about current events, university issues and anything else of interest to the Rice student body. To submit a question a future interview, email threshernews@gmail.com.