Rice’s Baker Institute for Public Policy, ranked the world’s No. 1 university-based policy research institution, today announced its spring slate of public events, featuring conversations with leading world leaders, policymakers and thought leaders on the most timely domestic and global issues of the day.
Rice has been named an Official Houston World Cup 2026 Host City Supporter, placing the state’s leading higher education institution at the center of preparations for the world’s largest sporting event and reinforcing Rice’s mission as a university with global reach.
Rice’s Jesse H. Jones Graduate School of Business today announced the launch of its Graduate Certificate in Healthcare Management program, a 10-month, credit-bearing professional credential designed for current and aspiring leaders seeking deep expertise in the business of healthcare. Situated at the crossroads of Houston’s renowned Texas Medical Center and global healthcare innovation, the program blends rigorous business fundamentals with healthcare-specific strategy, operations and management.
Two Rice faculty members have been recognized with national awards highlighting the university’s impact on research that shapes understanding of work, well-being and organizational life.
Rice will host a news conference at 10 a.m. Friday, Jan. 30, to announce its role in supporting the FIFA World Cup 2026™ Houston Host Committee, positioning the university in a high-profile partnership connected to the world’s largest sporting event ever.
A new paper published in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences argues that trustworthiness of climate-risk scores depends not just on the sophistication of the models used to produce the scores but also on whether the science behind them is open, reusable and transparent enough for others to examine, test and improve.
Rice’s online graduate programs earned significant gains in the latest U.S. News & World Report Best Online Programs rankings, with strong upward movement across engineering, computing and business disciplines. The 2026 rankings underscore Rice’s growing national profile for delivering rigorous, high-impact graduate education in a flexible online format.
OpenStax, Rice’s initiative to make education more affordable and accessible to all learners, announced an expansion of its existing partnership with Kendall Hunt Publishing Co. Building on Kendall Hunt’s role as OpenStax’s official print partner, this collaboration expands the relationship to include the Kendall Hunt K-12 division as a curriculum partner, adapting OpenStax’s openly licensed social studies textbooks for enhanced impact in high school classrooms.
The Cliburn International Competition for Conductors will launch in June 2028 in Houston in partnership with the Houston Symphony and the Shepherd School.
Researchers at Rice’s WaTER Institute are leading an ambitious new effort to transform the way the world manages water and sanitation at the household scale.