Campus News

Catch up on Rice’s top campus news stories, milestones and events from the past few months.

Rice University’s Jones Graduate School of Business hosted a groundbreaking ceremony for a new 112,000-square-foot building designed to accommodate unprecedented growth at the school and the evolving needs of the community. Photo by Jeff Fitlow

Fall 2024

HOOT!
Rice vaulted from No. 22 to No. 9 on Forbes’ 2024–2025 list of America’s Top Colleges. Earlier this year, Rice was one of 10 private universities to be included on Forbes’ list of “New Ivies.”

SPACE CAMP
For eight weeks this summer, Rice hosted 200 space industry professionals from over 30 countries for the International Space University’s Space Studies Program.

QUANTUM SCIENCE
Rice physicist Emilia Morosan was selected as one of 11 scientists and engineers for a prestigious Vannevar Bush Faculty Fellowship from the U.S. Department of Defense.

GROUNDBREAKING
Rice broke ground on a new 112,000-square-foot expansion for the Jones Graduate School of Business, a facility that will support the school’s growing student and faculty population.

TOP TEACHERS
Last spring, Betul Orcan-Ekmekci, an associate teaching professor in mathematics, received the George R. Brown Prize for Excellence in Teaching.

BRAIN SCIENCE BOOST
A $1 million gift to Rice’s Baker Institute for Public Policy from Harry Yan and Weiman Gao will establish a new Neuro-Policy Program to advance interdisciplinary approaches to brain health challenges and spur economic opportunity.