Weeks of Welcome to connect Owls with campus community, resources
As a continuation of Rice’s Office of Student Success Initiatives’ O-Week, the Student Center will host Weeks of Welcome Aug. 23-Sept. 6 at various locations on campus. The program will combine academic, educational, developmental and social programming for both undergraduate and graduate students to provide a solid foundation for new and returning students as they transition or return to Rice.
Owl Access sets up incoming Rice students for success
Rice’s Office of Student Success Initiatives hosted a prematriculation program for incoming Rice freshman and their families Aug. 14-16 as a leadup to O-Week. Named Owl Access, the initiative is led and supported by current students to welcome freshmen who move in early to Rice, providing a comfortable adjustment period and easing them into college life.
Rocketing to the top: Rice Eclipse claims victory at world’s largest collegiate rocketry competition
Rice’s largest engineering and student rocketry club, Rice Eclipse, soared to new heights this summer, taking top honors in the 30,000-foot Student Researched and Developed Hybrid Division at the 2025 International Rocket Engineering Competition.
‘Bonjour’ to the boulevard: Rice in France expands to Paris
Rather than romanticize the city, French studies lecturer Nelly Noury-Ossia asked students to interrogate it.
Scientists find new quantum behavior in unusual superconducting material
Researchers have discovered direct evidence of active flat electronic bands in a kagome superconductor.
Rice, city relocate crosswalk signal to boost safety near graduate apartments
Rice demonstrated its commitment to campus and community safety with the recent relocation of a crosswalk signal. Rice worked with the surrounding neighbors and the city of Houston to transfer a high-intensity activated crosswalk signal previously located on Sunset Boulevard in front of Congregation Emanu El to Rice Boulevard at Gate 23 near First Christian Church — an area that experiences substantially more foot traffic.
Rice Emerging Scholars Program prepares first-year students for STEM success
Rice’s campus was buzzing this summer as students in the Rice Emerging Scholars Program wrapped up six weeks of challenging courses, hands-on projects and community-building. The end-of-program events and presentations marked the culmination of a summer designed to prepare incoming first-year students — particularly those from under-resourced high schools — for the pace, depth and rigor of STEM majors at Rice.
World-renowned photographer to unveil new exhibition at Rice
The Rice School of Architecture is proud to announce the opening of Iwan Baan: The Notational Surface, an exhibition by acclaimed Dutch photographer Iwan Baan, launching Sept. 3.
Rice earns national recognition in Princeton Review’s 2026 Best Colleges rankings
Rice has once again earned national recognition in The Princeton Review’s annual Best Colleges rankings, placing in the top 10 in four categories for 2026.
Rice anthropologists’ tribute to Iceland’s first lost glacier joins global preservation effort
Rice anthropologists featured in an international exhibition launched in connection with the United Nations’ International Year of Glacier Preservation.
New graduate students arrive at Rice for move-In 2025
Incoming graduate students trickled in from across the country and around the world this week, rolling carts and hauling boxes into Rice’s graduate housing as they prepared to begin the fall semester.
Rice geoscientist honored with Geological Society of America’s Woollard Award
Richard Gordon, the W.M. Keck Foundation Professor of Geophysics, Earth, Environmental and Planetary Sciences at Rice, has been named the 2025 recipient of the George P. Woollard Award from the Geological Society of America.
‘Forever grateful’ Rice alumnus steps in line for top chair with Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo
Rice alumnus Wesley Sinor ’97, who graduated with a master’s degree from the Jones School of Business, has been flagged as Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo's chairman-elect.
Moody Civic Immersion program introduces incoming Owls to service-learning, Houston area
Rice’s academic year is about to launch, but dozens of incoming Owls started early by engaging with the city and its social justice issues, addressing them through the Ross Rankin Moody Civic Immersion program, one of the flagships of the university’s Center for Civic Leadership.
Empowering new beginnings: RISE program prepares incoming students for success
Even for the nation’s highest achieving students, the transition from high school to college can be an intimidating experience. That’s where RISE (Responsibility, Inclusion and Student Empowerment program) comes in.
