Meet this week’s Centennial Star

Fondren Library’s Lee Pecht pushes for a brighter future while preserving the past

To celebrate the Rice Centennial, this year the university will honor 100 staff members who represent the best of Rice culture. Each week, one or two Centennial Stars will be recognized for their contributions to excellence, and we’ll introduce them in Rice News.

Lee Pecht

Contributions from Lee Pecht, this week’s Centennial Star, are even more noticeable during Rice’s centennial year.

Pecht came to Rice in 1990 as a library assistant at Fondren Library and was promoted to archives associate in 1995. He assumed his current position as head of special collections in 2004, the same year he was honored by the Rice Board of Trustees for his contributions.

One requirement for being a Centennial Star specifically reminds colleagues of Pecht: A Centennial Star is an employee who “strives for the future betterment of Rice, in words and actions, while honoring our unique and diverse history.”

Colleagues said Pecht has worked diligently over the past two years to ensure that Rice’s “unique and diverse history” will be richly described and available to everyone for the centennial.

“He has accomplished this by working on an array of publications with others here at Rice; by collaborating on the exhibits being planned; and by providing myriad historical resources to everyone involved with making this Centennial Celebration spectacular,“ a colleague wrote. “In addition to all of this, he has consistently maintained his own workload, continuing to attract and acquire important archives and collections to Fondren’s Woodson Research Center and pushing his staff ever onward in the drive to preserve materials and also make them digital.”

To nominate someone as a Centennial Star, go to people.rice.edu/stars. For more information, contact Rebecca Millet at recognition@rice.edu.

To view previous Centennial Stars, visit http://people.rice.edu/Content.aspx?id=2147483712.