Rice University students to de-stress with therapy pets during finals week, April 24-May 1

MEDIA ADVISORY

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

Jeff Falk
713-348-6775
jfalk@rice.edu

Rice University students to de-stress with therapy pets during finals week, April 24-May 1

HOUSTON – (April  18, 2013) – Rice University students will have the opportunity to mingle, de-stress and share hugs with dogs of various breeds during finals week, April 24-May 1, at the university’s Fondren Library, 6100 Main St.

The library has asked Houston pet therapy organization Faithful Paws to bring its friendly canines to the first-floor reference collection area of Fondren from 5 to 9 p.m. April 25, from 3 to 9 p.m. April 26 and from 2 to 8 p.m. April 27. Two therapy cats will also be present during the April 25 session.

Fondren Library held its first therapy dog sessions during finals last December and received overwhelmingly positive feedback from students, according to library staff members.

For more information about Faithful Paws, a program founded in 1997 and sponsored by Bellaire United Methodist Church, visit www.faithfulpawshouston.com.

Media interested in covering one of the pet therapy sessions should RSVP to Jeff Falk, associate director of national media relations at Rice, at jfalk@rice.edu or 713-348-6775.

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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. 2 for “best value” among private universities by Kiplinger’s Personal Finance. To read “What they’re saying about Rice,” go to http://tinyurl.com/AboutRiceU.