Rice President Reginald DesRoches delivered his State of the University address Dec. 11 at the Moody Center for the Arts, highlighting points of pride from the past year and providing a look to the future.
The presentation showcased significant milestones, including major capital construction projects, the launch of innovative research institutes and centers, strengthened industry partnerships, prestigious faculty awards, substantial research grants, program rankings, and notable athletic achievements.
“We’ve really had an exceptional year, so I want to take this opportunity to thank you all for the great work,” DesRoches told the room of faculty members.
Strategic plan
DesRoches detailed the recently launched strategic plan, Momentous, which aims for Rice to become the world’s premier teaching and research university by delivering unparalleled personalized education and propelling breakthrough discoveries to transform lives and better humanity.
Unveiled Oct. 1, Momentous continues to be shared by university leadership with stakeholders both within and beyond the campus community. This includes an extensive rollout to Rice faculty, staff and students as well as alumni, donors and friends across the country.
“People are excited about the plan and its initiatives, and they are pleased with the level of ambition in the plan, which is very high,” DesRoches said. “Most importantly, I think people see that it is a focus on people.”
He noted developments within Rice’s leadership, including the hiring of Ken Jett, president of the Rice Real Estate Company and vice president of facilities and capital construction, and the naming of John Lawrence as interim chief investment officer.
DesRoches also made note of ongoing searches for a new chief investment officer and vice president of human resources.
Student achievements and booming athletics
Students have played a key role in driving the university’s continued success, DesRoches emphasized.
“The Rice undergraduate program has never been stronger,” he said. “We’ve had record-setting applications, and we continue to see broader interest in Rice across the country and the world.”
For the Class of 2028, 23% are underrepresented minorities and 14% are international students. Rice maintains a roughly 8% admission rate with 1,147 first-time undergraduate students. Twenty-one percent of students in the new class are Pell Grant recipients while 13% are first-generation students.
Undergraduate students excelled this year, earning prestigious recognition including the Rhodes Scholarship, Goldwater Scholarship, Truman Scholarship and Thomas J. Watson Fellowship.
Graduate students are also excelling. DesRoches mentioned the 25 graduate research fellowships awarded to Owls in the last year, and he brought attention to an ongoing commitment to the well-being and success of these students in a wraparound method that involves increased stipends, expanded food options, more accessible transportation and the enhancement of benefits programs.
Building on student achievements, athletics also has grown with the addition of four new head coaches and the introduction of new sports programs including women’s diving and women’s golf.
The university’s athletic programs earned several major victories both on and off the field in 2024. The women’s basketball team advanced to the NCAA Tournament, and Rice overall placed a conference leading 300 student-athletes on the American Athletic Conference’s (AAC) All-Academic team. In addition, the football, men’s golf, men’s indoor track and field and women’s indoor and outdoor track and field teams all won the AAC’s Team Academic Excellence Award. The student-athletes’ cumulative GPA is 3.41 with 41 receiving a 4.0.
Rice’s successful year is reflected in its rankings, with the university ranked No. 18 nationally and No. 1 in Texas by U.S. News & World Report. In addition, Rice was ranked No. 12 among private schools on The Princeton Review’s “Best Value Colleges” list, the only Texas institution to earn a spot.
Rice also soared from No. 22 to No. 9 on Forbes’ 2024-25 list of America’s Top Colleges, marking the first time the university has landed in a top 10 spot on that list.
Faculty growth and recognition
The number of faculty grew significantly this year, rising by 7% from fall 2023 to reach 888 full-time instructional employees in fall 2024.
Rice saw a 7% increase in tenure-track faculty this year, marking one of the largest growth rates among Association of American Universities member institutions. The university hired a total of 97 tenure-track and non-tenure-track faculty this academic year.
DesRoches underscored the commitment to expanding the diversity of faculty, noting a decade ago 8% of faculty members were underrepresented minorities. This year, 13% fall into that category, and the university has more than doubled the percentage of Black faculty in the last five years.
Eight junior faculty received National Science Foundation CAREER Awards this year. Combined with last year’s 12 recipients, Rice’s cohort of CAREER Award recipients is the second highest in the country.
“This distinction is really a big deal if you think about the fact that we’re much smaller than most of our peers, and the fact that we received the second most of any school just speaks to the quality of faculty we were able to recruit again because of the hard work of many of you,” DesRoches said.
Research enterprise and partnerships
Over the last year, Rice launched three new institutes: the Rice Synthetic Biology Institute, Rice WaTER Institute and Digital Health Institute, which is in partnership with Houston Methodist.
DesRoches highlighted endeavors that demonstrate the cross-cutting areas where researchers are making an impact. Under the leadership of Richard Baraniuk, the C. Sidney Burrus Professor of Engineering and founder and director of OpenStax, Rice was awarded $90 million from the NSF to build and lead SafeInsights, a research and development hub for inclusive learning and education. A collaboration between Anthony Brandt, professor of composition and theory at the Shepherd School of Music, and University of Houston neuroengineer Jose Luis Contreras-Vidal is testing how improvisational variations affect brain activity.
Further, Rice’s Biotech Launch Pad was chosen to be a key part of a multi-university research team dedicated to the commercialization of a bioelectrical implant treatment for obesity and Type 2 diabetes. The effort is backed by a $34.9 million award from the Advanced Research Projects Agency for Health (ARPA-H).
The Office of Innovation announced it will open the Rice Nexus in the Ion that will transform ideas from Rice faculty and students into market-ready technology.
Rice also continues to strengthen its relationship with the Texas Medical Center. New partnerships include the Cancer Bioengineering Collaborative and the Center for Operations Research in Cancer with the MD Anderson Cancer Center, the Center for Neural Systems Restoration with Houston Methodist and the Synthesis X Center with Baylor College of Medicine.
The partnerships extend globally as well, including working with the Université Paris Sciences & Lettres, the Indian Institute of Technology Kanpur and the Indian Institute of Science Bengaluru. Just last month, the university announced its expansion into India with Rice Global India.
Financial recap and future plans
The president gave a rundown of the budget, where he especially noted the results of The Rice Investment, the university’s signature financial aid plan. Started in 2019-20, The Rice Investment greatly expands support for low- and middle-income families, eliminating tuition for many students. In total, the university has awarded over $651 million in total grant aid — a 54% increase compared to the previous five years. In the 2023-24 academic year alone, nearly $152 million in grant aid was awarded, and 86% of Rice’s undergraduates graduated debt free.
DesRoches wrapped up the presentation with a review of recent additions to the campus, including the redesigned Academic Quad and the School of Architecture’s William T. Cannady Hall, and he gave mention to the ongoing construction for the Jones Graduate School of Business and the Susan and Fayez Sarofim Hall.
As DesRoches reflected on the remarkable progress and bold ambitions that continue to define Rice’s trajectory, he emphasized that Rice’s future will be shaped by its people who drive its mission forward.
“There may be challenges ahead, and we will need all of you even more so,” DesRoches said in closing. “I want to thank you for all that you do. I'm very excited about the future of the university.”