Centennial video series: Rice gets historical marker

David Ruth
713-348-6327
david@rice.edu

 Centennial video series: Rice gets historical marker
Rice University’s weekly centennial videos run through Oct. 12 

HOUSTON – (Sept. 27, 2012) – Exactly 100 years after the Rice Institute matriculated its first class Sept. 23, 1912, an official Texas Historical Commission marker honoring Rice University was unveiled Sunday on campus.

“We are thrilled to have this marker, which helps celebrate the importance of Rice University to Harris County, the city of Houston and the state of Texas,” Rice President David Leebron told the guests invited to the dedication ceremony by the Rice Historical Society.

At the ceremony, Rice alumnus and Harris County Judge Ed Emmett ’71 proclaimed Sept. 23, 2012, as “Rice University Day in Harris County.” He said the words on the marker explain the history of Rice but do not convey “the real gift of Rice University – its graduates, the people who have been at this institution and have contributed not only to Houston, not only to Harris County and the state of Texas, but the nation and the entire world.”

Working with Centennial Historian Melissa Kean, video producer Brandon Martin takes a look at the new Rice historical marker. For more information on Rice’s history, visit Kean’s blog at www.ricehistorycorner.com.

To help celebrate the university’s centennial Oct. 12, Rice University is producing weekly videos exploring the school’s unique history.

The video, available on YouTube at http://youtu.be/7kf1O5i0Pxw, also available to media in high quality and without music for editing purposes. For higher-quality video, contact David Ruth, director of national media relations at Rice, at david@rice.edu or 713-348-6327.

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Follow Rice News and Media Relations via Twitter @RiceUNews.

To see other stories in the centennial video series, go to www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL60D6D71E71B66B3D&feature=plcp.

Located on a 300-acre forested campus in Houston, Rice University is consistently ranked among the nation’s top 20 universities by U.S. News & World Report. Rice has highly respected schools of Architecture, Business, Continuing Studies, Engineering, Humanities, Music, Natural Sciences and Social Sciences and is home to the Baker Institute for Public Policy. With 3,708 undergraduates and 2,374 graduate students, Rice’s undergraduate student-to-faculty ratio is 6-to-1. Its residential college system builds close-knit communities and lifelong friendships, just one reason why Rice has been ranked No. 1 for best quality of life multiple times by the Princeton Review and No. 4 for “best value” among private universities by Kiplinger’s Personal Finance. To read “What they’re saying about Rice,” go to www.rice.edu/nationalmedia/Rice.pdf.