Phone Number of
Rice University Houston is
7133480000,7133487423 .
William Marsh Rice University (commonly known as
Rice University - Houston and opened in 1912 as The William Marsh Rice Institute for the Advancement of Letters, Science and Art) is a private coeducational research university located in Houston, Texas, United States. Its campus is located near the Houston Museum District and adjacent to the Texas Medical Center. Rice University opened in 1912 as a coeducational institution with free tuition.
Rice University - Houston was founded several years after the murder of its namesake, the prominent Houston businessman William Marsh Rice, who left a $4.6 million ($111 million in current dollars) funding endowment in his will. It is listed as one of thirty Hidden Ivies and as one of Newsweek's "New Ivies". Rice University is currently ranked 17th in the United States according to the 2010 US News and World Report.
The history of
Rice University - Houston began with the untimely demise of Massachusetts businessman William Marsh Rice. Rice made his fortune in real estate, railroad development, and cotton trading in the state of Texas. In 1891, Rice decided to charter a free-tuition educational institute in Houston, bearing his name, to be created upon his death, earmarking most of his estate towards funding the project. On the morning of September 23, 1900, Rice was found dead by his valet, and presumed to have died in his sleep. Shortly thereafter, a suspiciously large check made out to Rice's New York City lawyer, signed by the late Rice, was noticed by a bank teller due to a misspelling in the recipient's name. The lawyer, Albert T. Patrick, then announced that
Rice University - Houston had changed his will to leave the bulk of his fortune to Patrick, rather than to the creation of Rice's educational institute. A subsequent investigation led by the District Attorney of New York resulted in the arrests of Patrick and of Rice's butler and valet Charles F. Jones, who had been persuaded to administer chloroform to Rice while he slept. Rice's friend and personal lawyer in Houston, James A. Baker, Sr., aided in the discovery of what turned out to be a fake will with a forged signature. It took nearly ten years for Jones and Patrick to be found guilty of conspiring to steal Rice's fortune. Patrick was convicted of murder in 1901. Baker helped Rice's estate direct the fortune, worth $4.6 million in 1904 ($111 million today), towards the founding of what was to be called the Rice Institute. The Board took control of the assets on April 29 of that year. In 1907, the Board of Trustees selected the head of the Department of Mathematics and Astronomy at Princeton University, Edgar Odell Lovett, to head the Institute, which was still in the planning stages. He came recommended by Princeton's president, Woodrow Wilson. In 1908, Lovett accepted the challenge, and was formally inaugurated as the Institute's first president on October 12, 1912. Lovett undertook extensive research before formalizing plans for the new Institute, including visits to 78 institutions of higher learning across the world on a long tour between 1908 and 1909.
Lovett was impressed by such things as the aesthetic beauty of the uniformity of the architecture at
Rice University - Houston of Pennsylvania, a theme which was adopted by the Institute, as well as the residential college system at Cambridge University in England, which was added to the Institute several decades later. Lovett called for the establishment of a university "of the highest grade," "an institution of liberal and technical learning" devoted "quite as much investigation as to instruction." [We must] "keep the standards up and the numbers down," declared Lovett. "The most distinguished teachers must take their part in undergraduate teaching, and their spirit should dominate it all."
In 1911, the cornerstone was laid for the Institute's first building, the Administration Building, now known as Lovett Hall in honor of the founding president. On September 23, 1912, the anniversary of William Marsh Rice's murder, the William Marsh Rice Institute for the Advancement of Letters, Science, and Art began course work. 48 male and 29 female students were enrolled, paying no tuition, with classes taught by a dozen faculty. Rice was unusual for the time in that it had coeducational admissions. Three weeks after opening, a spectacular international academic festival was held in celebration, bringing
Rice University - Houston to the attention of the entire academic world. Four years later, at the first commencement ceremony, 35 bachelor's degrees and one master's degree were awarded. That year, the student body voted to adopt the Honor System, which still exists today. The first doctorate was conferred in 1918. Rice's campus is a heavily-wooded 285-acre (1.15 km2) tract of land located close to the city of West University Place, in the museum district of Houston.
Five streets demarcate the campus: Greenbriar Street, Rice Boulevard, Sunset Boulevard, Main Street, and University Boulevard. For most of its history, all of
Rice University - Houston buildings have been contained within this "outer loop". In recent years, new facilities have been built close to campus, but the bulk of administrative, academic, and residential buildings are still located within the original pentagonal plot of land. The new Collaborative Research Center, all graduate student housing, the Greenbriar building, and the Wiess President's House are located off-campus.
Rice University - Houston prides itself on the amount of green space available on campus; there are only about 50 buildings spread between the main entrance at its easternmost corner, and the parking lots and Rice Stadium at the West end. The Lynn R. Lowrey Arboretum, consisting of more than 4000 trees and shrubs (giving birth to the legend that Rice has a tree for every student), is spread throughout the campus. The
Rice University - Houston first president, Edgar Odell Lovett, intended for the campus to have a uniform architecture style to improve its aesthetic appeal. To that end, nearly every building on campus is noticeably Byzantine in style, with sand and pink-colored bricks, large archways and columns being a common theme among many campus buildings. Noteworthy exceptions include the glass-walled Brochstein Pavilion, Lovett College with its Brutalist-style concrete gratings, and the eclectic-Mediterranean Duncan Hall.
Rice University - Houston is a medium-sized, highly residential research university. The majority of enrollments are in the full-time, four-year undergraduate program emphasizing arts & sciences and professions. There is a high graduate coexistence with the comprehensive graduate program and a very high level of research activity. It is accredited by the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools as well as the professional accreditation agencies for engineering, management, and architecture. Each of
Rice University - Houston departments is organized into one of three distribution groups, and students whose major lies within the scope of one group must take at least 12 credit hours of approved distribution classes in each of the other two groups, as well as completing two physical education courses as part of the LPAP (Lifetime Physical Activity Program) requirement. For students who do not pass Rice University writing test (administered during the summer before matriculation), a writing class, COMM 103, becomes a requirement.
The majority of
Rice University - Houston undergraduate degree programs grant B.S. or B.A. degrees. Rice has recently begun to offer minors in areas such as business, energy and water sustainability, and global health. Rice University undergraduate program was ranked 17th among "National Universities" by U.S. News & World Report (USNWR) in its 2009 edition and 41st nationally by Forbes Magazine in 2008. USNWR also ranked the Jones Graduate School of Management 40th and the Brown School of Engineering 35th. The Princeton Review ranked Rice 1st for "Best Quality of Life", 2nd for "Lots of Race/Class Interaction", 15th for "Happiest Students", and 4th for "Best Value" in its 2009 edition.
Rice University - Houston was ranked 26th among national universities by The Washington Monthly in 2006, 78th internationally by The Times Higher Education Supplement in 2008, 97th internationally (54th nationally) by the Academic Ranking of World Universities in 2008, 41st among research universities by the Center for Measuring University Performance in 2007.
Situated on nearly 300 acres in the heart of Houston’s Museum District and across the street from the city’s Hermann Park,
Rice University - Houston is a green and leafy refuge – an oasis of learning convenient to the amenities of the nation’s fourth-largest city. Rice's campus adjoins Hermann Park, the Texas Medical Center, and a neighborhood commercial center called the Rice Village. Hermann Park includes the Houston Museum of Natural Science, the Houston Zoo, Miller Outdoor Theatre and an 18-hole municipal golf course. Reliant Park, home of Reliant Stadium and the Astrodome, is two miles (3 km) south of the campus. Among the dozen or so museums in the Museum District is the
Rice University - Houston Art Gallery, open during the school year. Easy access to downtown's theater and nightlife district and to Reliant Park is provided by the Houston METRORail system, with a station adjacent to the campus's main gate. The campus recently joined the Zipcar program with two vehicles to increase the transportation options for students and staff that need that currently don't utilize a vehicle.
Rice University Houston Address
The address of Rice University Houston is 6100 Main Street, Houston, TX 77005-1827, USA.
Rice University Houston Email Address
The email address of Rice University Houston is
info@rice.edu.
Rice University Houston Website
The Website of Rice University Houston is
www.rice.edu.
Rice University Houston Customer Support Service Phone Number
The customer support phone number of Rice University Houston is
7133480000,7133487423 (Click phone number to call).
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