Rice LIFT: 61 presentations make for ‘inspiring afternoon’

What big endeavors should Rice undertake?

That question was posed by the Rice Leading Innovation through Faculty Thought (Rice LIFT) project, and the answer came in the form of 61 presentations made by faculty during a 4 ½-hour symposium May 2.

“This is a very exciting day for Rice,” Board of Trustees Chair Bobby Tudor ’82 said in his welcoming remarks to the crowd that filled Duncan Hall’s McMurtry Auditorium. “I think that as the university embarks on the next phase of our growth and expansion and strategy, the best ideas almost always come from our single best asset of the university – the faculty.”

In addition to Tudor, trustees Patti Kraft ’87, Rob Ladd ’78, Amy Sutton ’89 and Scott Wise ’71 turned out to hear the proposals, along with President David Leebron, deans, vice presidents, vice provosts, faculty, staff and Provost Marie Lynn Miranda, who organized the project.

Faculty had been asked to submit “creative and innovative ideas for energizing Rice’s future” on the Rice LIFT website. The proposals had to come from a team of at least three faculty members, and one member from each team was invited to present a three-minute talk about their proposal during the symposium.

The 61 proposals represented the work of 559 team members, some of whom were faculty who served on multiple teams and postdocs, research scientists and other staff members.

The submitted proposals were organized into three groups of presentations that were introduced by Dean of Graduate and Postdoctoral Studies Seiichi Matsuda, Vice Provost for Academic Affairs Paula Sanders and Vice Provost for Research Yousif Shamoo. Comment forms were available for audience members to provide feedback to the presenters.

“I want to thank all the participants who gave presentations and the people who worked on the proposals and may not have presented,” Miranda said at the end of the symposium. “And everybody who stayed and listened to all of these wonderful talks today.

“The presentations and proposals and all the conversations that are going on will be incredibly helpful to us in the strategic planning process,” she said. “I have never been more inspired by a group of faculty than today. It’s just been absolutely amazing.”

Leebron commended Miranda for “having the vision and confidence in the faculty” to pursue this project. “It was truly an inspiring afternoon,” he said. “It’s important for us to come together and be inspired by each other. That is what makes our university great.”

Leebron noted that Rice LIFT was part of a comprehensive strategic planning process. “It is important that we engage in strategic planning,” he said. “It’s an opportunity for us to periodically refresh our ambitions for the university.” He noted that 40 percent of the faculty was not at Rice 10 years ago, so the “faculty itself is being constantly refreshed.”

Leebron said the information presented at the symposium will be used “very quickly” because he will be meeting soon with the senior leadership and then the Rice Board of Trustees to develop a draft strategic plan that will be shared with faculty, students, alumni and other constituencies for input. “We hope to increase support of proposals and bring attention to those who are interested in your projects so we can realize many of the ambitions that we heard about today.”

Leebron said the Rice LIFT symposium was “a validation of our confidence in each other about what this university can achieve in the years ahead.”

The symposium was followed by a reception that Miranda said was “funded anonymously by a wonderful friend of the university.”

Miranda gave special thanks to her staff — Jana Callan, who oversaw the logistics for the entire process, and Gloria Carrera, Colleen Morimoto and Diana Heard – for handling “a thousand details” to ensure the event’s success. Leebron also commended the provost’s office on the “superb and detailed execution” of Rice LIFT.

Below are photos from the symposium and a list of the presenters with the titles of their proposals.