Rice demonstrated its commitment to campus and community safety with the recent relocation of a crosswalk signal. Rice worked with the surrounding neighbors and the city of Houston to transfer a high-intensity activated crosswalk signal previously located on Sunset Boulevard in front of Congregation Emanu El to Rice Boulevard at Gate 23 near First Christian Church — an area that experiences substantially more foot traffic.
Rice’s campus was buzzing this summer as students in the Rice Emerging Scholars Program wrapped up six weeks of challenging courses, hands-on projects and community-building. The end-of-program events and presentations marked the culmination of a summer designed to prepare incoming first-year students — particularly those from under-resourced high schools — for the pace, depth and rigor of STEM majors at Rice.
Rice has once again earned national recognition in The Princeton Review’s annual Best Colleges rankings, placing in the top 10 in four categories for 2026.
Rice alumnus Wesley Sinor ’97, who graduated with a master’s degree from the Jones School of Business, has been flagged as Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo's chairman-elect.
Rice’s academic year is about to launch, but dozens of incoming Owls started early by engaging with the city and its social justice issues, addressing them through the Ross Rankin Moody Civic Immersion program, one of the flagships of the university’s Center for Civic Leadership.
Rice will kick off its annual orientation, lovingly dubbed O-Week, Aug. 17 in a series of programs that familiarize incoming students with their new schools, residential colleges and classmates as it welcomes the Class of 2029.
Three Rice alumni who are now medical doctors comprise the clinical leaders for Rice Emergency Medical Services, the university’s student-led team of emergency medical technicians.
Rice hosted five high school students for a forward-thinking summer pilot program named the ETC Lab, designed to equip high school juniors and seniors with the tools to become empowered, civically engaged citizens and future leaders.
Rice’s Moody Center for the Arts welcomed enthusiastic arts and music lovers for a Pride Month happy hour on the afternoon of June 26, which featured renditions of pop favorites by Pride Chorus Houston and tunes from DJ Krazzy Kris.
As Houston’s pride parade made its way through the streets of downtown Houston, so did Rice’s students, faculty, staff, alumni and supporters. The parliament of owls gathered to celebrate the 47th annual event, which held special significance in many regards.
Kathryn Cavender, associate vice president of the campus safety department, was recently celebrated for her 34 years of service at Rice, shortly before she enters her retirement. More than 100 people joined a reception at the Ralph S. O’Connor Building for Engineering and Science to salute her dedication to the university and the people who fill its spaces.
Rice hosted the 15th annual Texas Leadership Consortium Summer Youth Program June 9-13. This weeklong camp engaged 100 students from Houston area high schools and middle schools to provide life lessons and college readiness activities.
