Rice Reflects, an initiative of Rice University’s Office of the Provost to highlight and create opportunities for conversations across perceived differences, is announcing its next four events available for students, faculty and staff.
Informed by scholarly expertise from within and outside the Rice community, the initiative provides events and educational offerings that address ideological, political, religious, cultural and other differences throughout the academic year.
“Rice’s culture of care and diverse community offers an ideal environment for reflection and dialogue surrounding complex issues,” said Amy Dittmar, the Howard R. Hughes Provost and executive vice president for academic affairs. “With our wealth of renowned research faculty at Rice and experts from peer institutions, our office wanted to curate a series of events and educational offerings that present and examine differing views and perspectives on often challenging issues and allow our community to engage and learn together.”
Over the last year, the provost’s office has partnered with Rice’s schools, centers and institutes to provide the campus community with opportunities to learn about civic engagement and democracy, the presidential election, free expression, government policies and religious diversity.
March 10 brings to campus acclaimed author Sandy Tolan, whose topic is “After Gaza: Free Speech and the Power to Imagine a Just Peace in Israel and Palestine.” Tolan will speak about conflict and tragedy in Israel and Palestine, share reflections on reconciliation then host an audience Q&A session and reception. Visit here to register.
Tolan wrote the international bestseller “The Lemon Tree: An Arab, a Jew and the Heart of the Middle East” and “Children of the Stone: The Power of Music in a Hard Land” and is a professor at the University of Southern California’s Annenberg School for Communication and Journalism. He is also a co-founder of Homelands Productions, which for 25 years has produced international documentaries and features for public radio.
“Sandy is an incredible storyteller with a wealth of knowledge not only about religious conflict but about how we communicate the reality of conflicts and the impact on individuals,” said Dittmar.
Last semester, the provost’s office partnered with Rice’s Boniuk Institute for the Study and Advancement of Religious Tolerance to showcase a survey on student religiosity and perceived discrimination on campus. The Boniuk Institute aims to understand religious pluralism through research and scholarship and to advocate for meaningful change.
“Religion is a compelling though often neglected part of life at a university,” said Alex Byrd, vice provost for diversity, equity and inclusion.
Rice Reflects also sponsored events around the 2024 election to provide faculty, students and staff opportunities to learn more about policies — not politics — from a nonpartisan viewpoint. The Election 2024 Policy Playbook from Rice’s Baker Institute for Public Policy was featured as an example of the work the institute does to use Rice’s research powerhouse to provide data and insight without agendas.
Three of the four Rice Reflects events this semester are part of a practical civics initiative spearheaded by the Rice Faculty Senate to provide guidance on how the university community can use their voices and their influence to impact their local and broader communities. These events will bring together faculty, staff and students to discuss and learn more about civic engagement from a multitude of angles and viewpoints. Lunch will be provided.
“This is a fantastic opportunity for all of us in the Rice community to ask questions about the nuts and bolts of civic engagement and to learn practical ways to get involved in civics at local, state and federal levels,” said April DeConick, faculty senate speaker. “The Rice faculty senate is pleased to co-sponsor these three panels with the provost’s office. We encourage faculty, students and staff to join the conversation.”
The three practical civics events will include:
- Local, State and Federal Government — Feb. 13 at noon
- Speakers feature Joel Resendez, director of state government relations; Nathan Cook, senior director of government relations; Greg Marshall, director of university relations; and Nina Wallach, a sophomore studying social policy analysis.
- Civic Engagement — March 10 at noon
- Speakers feature Danika Brown, executive director of the Center for Civic Leadership; Omar Syed, vice president and general counsel; Steven Perry, assistant teaching professor in the Program for Writing and Communication; Maya Harpavat, a senior studying health sciences and English with a certificate in civic leadership; and Marshall.
- Voting and Political Activities — April 1 at noon
- Speakers feature Veronica Reyna, associate director of the Center for Civic Leadership; Melissa Marschall, professor of political science; Karyn Fu, a sophomore majoring in biosciences and social policy analysis and Rice’s presiding judge for the campus’ polling location; Katherine Jeng, a senior majoring in English and social policy analysis, Rice’s Democracy Fellow and Rice Votes member; Marshall; and Cook.
More events hosted by the wide array of disciplines on campus will be added to the calendar throughout the year and found here: provost.rice.edu/rice-reflects.