Rice ranks No. 1 for quality of life, race/class interaction, No. 2 for happiest students
The Princeton Review ranked Rice University No. 1 for best quality of life and lots of race/class interaction and No. 2 for happiest students. Some of those rankings were referenced in USA Today.
Rice flood experts Phil Bedient and Jim Blackburn appeared in the national media, including The New York Times, during coverage of Hurricane/Tropical Storm Harvey.
Government Relations stays engaged during special session and Congress’ August recess
Despite an agenda from Gov. Greg Abbott that had few direct implications for Rice University, Government Relations closely monitored several issues throughout the 30-day special session, weighing in on one.
Of the governor’s 20 priorities for the session, the standout was the so-called bathroom bill, which passed the Senate quickly. President Leebron signed a letter from the Greater Houston Partnership opposing the bathroom bill which Government Relations circulated to House Speaker Joe Straus and other key House opponents. Ultimately, in the face of opposition from businesses and organizations across Texas, the bill never received a vote in the House.
Government Relations also remained active on the federal level, both throughout the summer and into Congress’ August recess. Positive developments included an end to Homeland Security’s suspension of premium processing for H-1B visas, and tax reform discussions moving away from changes in the treatment of university endowments.
Heading into September, we continue to engage with our delegation, congressional leadership and federal agencies on numerous priorities, including several immigration policies, critical research funding issues and FY18 appropriations.
University Relations
City construction affects Rice campus, Village
The Greenbriar Drive reconstruction project is now scheduled to begin in October 2017 and be completed by approximately December 2018. Construction will be accomplished in five successive geographic “reaches” (see color-coded map above), and will involve closing one-half of the street in each of the five project segments for a total of two, seven-week periods per segment. During each of these seven-week periods, traffic will be diverted through adjacent neighborhood streets.
Following the Greenbriar project, a similar roadway reconstruction will begin on University Boulevard, between Main Street and Kirby Drive. This project involves many of the same stakeholders, and is of even greater importance to Rice due to its proximity to both the campus and the university’s real estate holdings in Rice Village. University Relations continues to work with campus and community stakeholders on this project as preliminary design begins.
Creative Services
In July, the Creative Services team covered all-things food in the Summer 2017 issue of Rice Magazine. This special edition featured stories about alumni who run successful restaurants and catering businesses and those who have spent a lifetime establishing eating dynasties in Houston. From a look at Rice’s food service over the last 20 years to Alison Cook’s ’69 experiences as a 30-year food critic, this issue was full of flavor. Produced four times a year, Rice Magazine is sent to over 50,000 alumni and friends of the university.
Creative Services designed, edited and printed The Shepherd Society’s annual brochure in August. Sent to 7,000 members and prospective supporters, the annual brochure features students who are receiving financial support through endowments funded by Shepherd Society contributions. The society supports music at Rice and holds several special musical events throughout the year.
In August, Creative Services worked with the Department of Visual and Dramatic Arts to produce an introductory marketing brochure that was used during O-Week to describe available course offerings in the department’s three concentrations: studio art, film and photography, and theater. The brochure will also be distributed to prospective students.
Multicultural Community Relations
Connecting Rice to fine arts in Houston
Multicultural Community Relations is helping organize a series of receptions, lectures and tours at the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston for the benefit of alumni, students and community leaders. On Aug. 23, the Mayor’s Hispanic Advisory Board met at the museum and took a tour of “Paint the Revolution: Mexican Modernism, 1910–1950.” Rice students and alumni will also be viewing the exhibition in September.
MCR has recruited black alumni to assist with an event for the upcoming exhibit, “The Glamour and Romance of Oscar de la Renta,” which begins Oct. 8. African-American fashion editor André Leon Talley, author of a book about the life and creations of de la Renta, will attend the event.
Rice at Large, Fall 2017 debuts a new look
The Fall 2017 issue of Rice at Large showcased a new look. The issue includes a feature story on Marcia Brennan, professor of religion and art history, and her uplifting work with the dying at Houston’s MD Anderson Hospital. In addition, there are several articles on STEM outreach from various Rice departments and summer enrichment camps sponsored by the Rice community.
MCR supports Rice O-Week
MCR supported the planning, outreach and staging of the Aug. 12 new student receptions hosted by the Hispanic Association for Cultural Enrichment at Rice, the Rice Black Student Association and the Rice African Student Association. A total of 400 people attended the two events, including new students, their parents, upperclassmen, faculty, alumni and staff. They gathered to learn about life at Rice and to develop support networks for the school year.
Marketing and Digital Communications
The 'interwebs' dashboard
Total reach
This number reflects how many people were potentially reached through Rice websites and social media during July and August: 9,447,637
Passive viewers
This number reflects people who have read or been exposed to Rice via web efforts in July and August: 588,944
Web advocates
This number reflects people who have actively shared Rice web and social media content during July and August: 85,663
In July and August, there were more than 85,600 brand advocates sharing the Rice University message. More than 9 million users were reached during this time. Much of the recent traffic was related to Hurricane Harvey. Rice’s social media accounts saw a significant increase in the number of followers as well as links clicked during the storm. From the day before Harvey to Labor Day, Rice gained 617 Facebook followers and 740 Twitter followers. Rice shared information about the conditions on campus, the decisions about opening and closing campus, and how to volunteer to help. Rice’s social media accounts became another resource for the Crisis Management Team to share important updates about the storm.
Throughout July and August, the hero slider at the top of www.rice.edu gained 27,591 clicks. The hero primarily focused on the Rice Owls in Sydney, #RiceOWeek17 and Hurricane Harvey; it also featured eight videos. Over the course of O-Week, the hero was updated with new videos and photos daily. This strategy was also used for the Rice Owls in Sydney: The hero slider was updated with a new image every day until the football game. We also used the hero slider to direct people to the Emergency Management site during Hurricane Harvey, as well as to show off the incredible work of our faculty, staff, students and alumni who were volunteering to help Houston. The most clicked story was about Hurricane Harvey preparation with 4,577.
Rice has moved up in the U.S. News & World Report rankings. At No. 14, Rice is tied with Brown, Cornell and Vanderbilt. In addition to our new national university ranking, Rice received the following recognitions: No. 20 engineering program No. 3 among national universities with a strong commitment to undergraduate teaching No. 15 high school counselors’ top college pick No. 16 among 50 national universities ranked as best values
We are in the process of hiring a new Dateline Rice editor and were unable to gather the information needed to compile a list of media stars for the July–August report. The report will resume with the September–October issue.
