Rice University commencement ceremonies are Friday and Saturday

Rice University
Office of Public Affairs / News & Media Relations

MEDIA ADVISORY

B.J. Almond
713-419-9980
balmond@rice.edu

Editor’s note: B-roll from Rice University’s commencement ceremonies will be posted Saturday afternoon at https://rice.box.com/owlgrad17.

 Rice University commencement ceremonies are Friday and Saturday

Former astronaut Mae Jemison will give commencement address Saturday

HOUSTON — (May 11, 2017) — Rice University’s commencement ceremonies will be held May 12 and 13.

EVENT: Rice University’s 104th commencement. On Friday night, undergraduate students will cross the stage to receive diploma tubes and be congratulated; the commencement address will be presented Saturday morning and degrees will be conferred to the group as a whole. Students will NOT walk across the stage to receive diplomas Saturday; Friday night is the only photo op for students crossing the stage. Fireworks will light up the sky after Friday night’s ceremony.

DATE: Friday and Saturday, May 12 and 13.

TIME: 7:30 p.m. Friday and 8:30 a.m. Saturday.

SPEAKER: Dr. Mae Jemison, the first African-American woman to travel in space. A physician, engineer, educator, entrepreneur and former astronaut, Jemison is the principal for 100 Year Starship, a global initiative to ensure the capability for interstellar human space flight by 2112.

LOCATION: Outdoors on Rice’s Academic Quadrangle west of Lovett Hall (rain location: Tudor Fieldhouse), 6100 Main St. Photographers must check in at the Welcome Center in Lovett Hall, Room 103B, to get a black robe required for access to the quadrangle and instructions for where they are allowed to take pictures and video. They must be accompanied by a member of the News and Media Relations team to the area on the quad designated for photographers. The Welcome Center will open at 6:30 p.m. Friday and 7:30 a.m. Saturday.

PARKING: News media must use Entrance 27B on Sunset Boulevard (west of Main Street) and park along the right side of the road by the Student Health Center. Press credentials are required for admission through Entrance 27B. For assistance, call 713-419-9980.

CAMPUS MAP: http://www.rice.edu/maps/Rice-University-Color-Campus-Map.pdf. (Look for the red circle with No. 22 for the road where media can park.)

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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 3,879 undergraduates and 2,861 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 is ranked No. 1 for happiest students and for lots of race/class interaction by the Princeton Review. Rice is also rated as a best value among private universities by Kiplinger’s Personal Finance. To read “What they’re saying about Rice,” go to http://tinyurl.com/RiceUniversityoverview.

Follow Rice News and Media Relations via Twitter @RiceUNews.

Office of News and Media Relations – MS 300, Rice University, 6100 Main St., Houston, TX 77005