David W. Leebron, President

June, 2009

Dear Rice Community,

With summer upon us and planning for the 2009-10 academic year almost complete, I want to take this opportunity to thank you and your fellow alumni and friends for your involvement with Rice University and to report on some recent accomplishments and developments. These include next steps for dealing with the ongoing financial challenges, good news from the enrollment front and the status of our discussions with Baylor College of Medicine.

Looking back, this academic year has had some great successes and also some unwelcome surprises. The latter included Hurricane Ike and the worst economic recession in more than half a century. Yet the year also produced a significant number of honors for our faculty and students, a highly successful launch of the Centennial Campaign, the addition of much-anticipated new buildings and capacity to our campus and record interest in Rice from prospective students.

Ike was a harrowing, but shining, moment for Rice. We acted swiftly to clean up our campus and reopened three days after the storm struck. We were just as quick to help our community: Our students volunteered throughout the region to staff food banks and help hard-hit neighborhoods dig out from under tons of debris. A Rice team even won top prize in Houston’s “Recycle Ike” contest with a plan for recycling debris. We also assisted community officials in quickly organizing an Ike-postponed naturalization ceremony for 900 new citizens in Rice Stadium so that they could register in time to vote in the November elections.

The economic downturn and the resulting losses to our endowment will have a more prolonged impact on the university. As best we can estimate, the endowment suffered a decline of about 20 percent from last June 30. (We will not have final figures until the fiscal year-end audit.) Because the endowment accounts for about 45 percent of our annual budget, with the payout determined by a three-year rolling average, we will feel the effects of those losses for years to come. To reduce expenses, build reserves and stay within our Board of Trustees-mandated payout ceiling, we took several steps.

We reduced the current supplies and expenses budget by 1 percent and imposed a temporary hiring freeze, which helped build up a financial buffer to address some of the challenges ahead. We also instituted a $13 million, or 5 percent, cut in our core expenditures for the new fiscal year beginning July 1. We felt it was important to accomplish this without significant layoffs or by eliminating key programs, and this was achieved through great collective effort and sacrifice. We also took steps to reduce energy and procurement costs. Many faculty and staff members will not receive raises for next year, although we did provide small increases for members of our community earning less than a specified level and held health insurance premium increases to 5 percent. Although we raised tuition for next year by 4.9 percent, it was our lowest increase in several years and was accompanied by a significant increase in financial aid. For entering undergraduates, students from families with incomes less than $80,000 will not be required to borrow money to finance their Rice education.

Some have asked why we are not making larger budget cuts, as some other universities and corporations are doing. Our goal is to take prudent steps to restrain spending and to stay within our endowment spending guidelines, but to do so in a way that minimizes the impact on the quality of our academic offerings and campus environment. We will likely have to make additional spending reductions in the next two years, but we will undertake them strategically, guided by the objectives we set in the Vision for the Second Century (V2C) and by our commitment to the Rice community.

Even with the difficult economy, our momentum remains strong. We had a record number of undergraduate applications this year: 11,172, up 27 percent from just three years ago. Based on past yields, we had expected to enroll about 850 students. In fact, many higher education experts said they expected that private colleges and universities would experience a downturn in enrollment because of the poor economy, and our “early decision” results seemed to bear that out. At this point, however, we have had what can fairly be described as an extremely successful admission season: We now have about 920 deposits. We expect some reduction over the summer but are planning for a freshmen class of between 900 and 910 students, about 6 to 7 percent larger than originally anticipated.

The increase is attributable entirely to higher yields among U.S. students outside of Texas and international students. In absolute numbers, we also will have more students from Texas, at about 45 percent; this continues to be in line with our long-term goals. Also gratifying is a significant increase in humanities students. The quality of the class is as strong as it has ever been and it is the most diverse, in a number of ways, in our history. For example, about one quarter of the U.S. students are under-represented minorities and 13 percent are students from other countries.

We are now working to accommodate the housing and academic needs of the additional students. As usual, all freshmen will reside in the residential colleges and our two newest colleges -- Duncan and McMurtry -- will be coming online as planned to help accommodate our needs. As you may recall from my March letter, Will Rice and Baker residents will temporarily relocate to the new colleges while their colleges are renovated and expanded. We will offer some on-campus upperclass students the opportunity to reside in a wing of Will Rice College that we will keep open while the rest of the college undergoes renovation. 

While there no doubt will be some inconvenience, we are pleased that we are the academic destination of choice for so many talented young scholars. I believe that this is a reflection of our increasing visibility and success. We are becoming better known around the country and the world, and across an array of disciplines, as a research university that provides a unique and outstanding undergraduate experience. Our public affairs office reports that news coverage of Rice has increased about 500 percent over the last two years. This media exposure, which primarily highlights the scholarship and research of our faculty, helps us in many endeavors, including fundraising, alumni and community relations and recruitment of students and faculty.

Among the numerous faculty and institutional achievements over the past year that have helped to maintain Rice’s steady upward trajectory, I can include but a few here. Last month, for example, Naomi Halas, the Stanley C. Moore Professor in Electrical and Computer Engineering and professor of chemistry and bioengineering, was named to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, along with two Rice alumni, venture capitalist John Doerr ’73 and economist Karen Davis ’65. Halas also was one of only six named a Defense Department science fellow out of 621 nominees. Jim Tour, the T.T. and W.F. Chao Professor of Chemistry and professor of computer science, mechanical engineering and materials science, received the prestigious Foresight Institute Feynman Prize for experimental nanotechnology, and his research was featured on the cover of the April 16 issue of Nature magazine. Vice Provost for Research Jim Coleman also was featured on a Nature cover, which gave Rice claim to two of these prestigious spots out of about 40 since the beginning of the past academic year. Farinaz Koushanfar of electrical and computer engineering was one of only 17 scholars recognized in the MIT Technology Review as an “innovator under 35.” Kurt Stallman of the Shepherd School of Music was awarded the Goddard Lieberson Fellowship from the American Academy of Arts and Letters, and Melissa Marschall of political science was appointed as a visiting scholar at the Russell Sage Foundation.

Neal Lane, the Malcolm Gillis University Professor, professor of physics and senior fellow at the James A. Baker III Institute for Public Policy, received the National Academy of Sciences’ most prestigious award, the Public Welfare Medal. Established in 1914, the medal is presented annually to honor extraordinary use of science for public good. History Professor Michael Maas was named a National Endowment for the Humanities fellow. Stephen Zeff, the Herbert S. Autrey Professor of Accounting in the Jesse H. Jones Graduate School of Management, was given the European Accounting Association’s Anthony G. Hopwood Award for Academic Leadership. He is the first American to receive this award.

Neal Lane was also among the honorees recognized by the Association of Rice Alumni at the 2009 Laureates Dinner held the evening of commencement. Neal was presented with the ARA Gold Medal for his many accomplishments and contributions throughout his more than 40-year relationship with Rice, including chairing the Physics Department, serving as provost, conducting internationally recognized research, and enhancing Rice’s reputation during the years he spent in Washington, D.C., first as director of the National Science Foundation, followed by three years as assistant to the president for science and technology policy. A Gold Medal was also presented to the Honorable Edward P. Djerejian, the Janice and Robert McNair Director of Public Policy and founding director of the Baker Institute, for his visionary dedication to Rice in guiding the institute from a mere concept to the leading nonpartisan research center that it is today.

We recognized three alumni for their professional accomplishments by presenting them with the Distinguished Alumni Award: T. Jay Collins ’68, president and CEO of Oceaneering International Inc.; Rachelle Smith Doody ’78, ’92, the Effie Marie Cain Chair in Alzheimer’s Disease Research, professor of neurology and director of the Alzheimer’s Disease Research and Memory Disorders Center at the Baylor College of Medicine; and Robert S. Martin ’71, professor and Lillian Bradshaw Endowed Chair (retired) in the School of Library and Information Studies at Texas Woman’s University and former director of the Institute of Museum and Library Services. We also were pleased to honor Rice Trustee and attorney Teveia Rose Barnes ’75; former dean of the Wiess School of Natural Sciences Kathleen Matthews; Rice Trustee and financial industry consultant Jeffery Rose ’77, and political science Professor Richard J. Stoll with the Meritorious Service Award for their extraordinary contributions to Rice.

We will welcome two new members to our Board of Trustees on July 1, both of whom are Rice alumnae. Subha Barry ’85 earned a master of business and public management from the Jones Graduate School of Management. Her undergraduate degree is from the University of Mumbai in India. She joined Merrill Lynch in 1989 as a financial advisor and in 2005 was appointed managing director and head of multicultural careers to focus on global diversity efforts. She and her husband, Jim Barry ’84, have been active alums in the New York and New Jersey area for many years, including hosting annual student send-off events for entering Rice freshmen. Their daughter, Tara Barry, is a rising senior at Martel. Joining Subha on the Board is Suzanne Deal Booth ’77, who received a B.A. in art history from Rice and an M.A. from New York University and is an art preservationist. At Rice, she is the co-chair of the Rice Art Committee and serves on the School of Humanities Advisory Board. With her husband, David, she created the Booth Heritage Foundation, which supports many cultural activities and community services, and the Friends of Heritage Preservation, which responds to preservation needs around the world.

I also want to acknowledge Lars Lerup and Gary Wihl, who both officially end their service as deans on June 30. Lars has served as dean of architecture and the William Ward Watkin Professor of Architecture since 1993. Gary has been dean of humanities, the Francis Moody Newman Professor in the Humanities and professor of English since 2003. We wish Gary well in his new deanship at Washington University in St. Louis. We will welcome Lars back as a full-time member of the faculty in fall 2010 after he spends nearly a year studying the Pantheon as a recipient of the 113th annual Rome Prize Competition awarded by the American Academy in Rome.

Our efforts in research and graduate studies continue to strengthen. The Patent Board, for example, a Chicago firm that ranks companies and academic institutions for the prowess of their intellectual property, ranked Rice’s patent portfolio No. 1 in the “Industry Impact” category, which suggests that a Rice patent, on average, is better at facilitating worldwide innovation than patents from other universities. Our new Ph.D. program in art history has admitted its first group of students, a new Ph.D. in business begins in the new fiscal year and our sociology Ph.D. program is in the planning stages. This increased breadth in graduate education is part of the V2C and vital to our future.

We made new faculty appointments in many disciplines this year, and 31 new tenured and tenure-track faculty members across more than half of our departments have been recruited to Rice. As exciting, many appointments will significantly strengthen multi-departmental and interdisciplinary efforts. For example, the Hispanic Studies department made one appointment this year, but its research and teaching will be complemented by three other new faculty members with Latin American specialties. This comes in addition to our increased relationships with universities in Mexico and South America, work at the Baker Institute and in the schools of Humanities and Social Sciences, and the recent establishment of the Spanish government-sponsored Spanish Resource Center at Rice -- all of which will greatly enhance our presence in the study and teaching of pan-Hispanic culture and society.

Our student accomplishments shine as brightly as ever. Rice graduate students received 10 National Science Foundation research fellowships. Shepherd School D.M.A. candidate and pianist Kana Mimaki took first prize in the Bradshaw and Buono International Piano Competition, which earned her the opportunity to debut in Carnegie Hall. Rice students were the only team from Texas chosen to compete with 19 others in the Department of Energy’s 2009 Solar Decathlon to be held this October on the National Mall in Washington, D.C. Rice students won five Fulbright and three Goldwater scholarships, and alumna Dania Daye ’07 won a prestigious Soros Fellowship for New Americans.

I cannot overlook the creative spark that marks our students. Two of our pre-med seniors, Faheem Ahmed and Anish Patel, won a trip to the Oscars courtesy of MTV with their clever video spoof of Hollywood that included a memorable Bollywood-style dance in our Academic Quad. I even have to give credit to the students who pulled a prank at my expense -- an April Fools’ Day hoax email that carried my name and that suggested we were closing the George R. Brown School of Engineering. Although I had to assure a few concerned alumni that I would sooner cut off my right arm than close engineering, I did have to chuckle at the cleverness of the prank.

We also enjoyed a spectacular year in athletics, including our best football record in more than half a century and indoor and outdoor conference titles for women’s track and field. Our baseball team won its 14th consecutive conference championship (counting regular season and tournament titles) and made its way to the NCAA Super Regionals before being stopped by the eventual national champion, LSU. Junior pole vaulter Jason Colwick -- an Owl who really can fly -- captured both the indoor and outdoor NCAA championships. Alumna Funmi Jimoh ’06 leaped to a personal best in the long jump at the Qatar Athletic Super Grand Prix in Doha in May. She holds the No. 2 women’s long jump mark in the world for 2009.

One of my favorite moments, however, was during a basketball game that we were unfortunately in the process of losing. A very successful Rice alumna jokingly pointed out that perhaps the problem was that, as indicated in the program, our players were majoring in such demanding fields as mathematics, economics and engineering.

Campus construction has proceeded on schedule and all projects are on or under budget. This fall, the imposing BioScience Research Collaborative will open, as will the new Barbara and David Gibbs Recreation and Wellness Center and Duncan and McMurtry colleges. Already in operation are the Brochstein Pavilion, renovated Tudor Fieldhouse, additional graduate student apartments, the child care center and the south power plant that, in addition to electricity, adds a beautiful new tower with shimmering glass panels to Rice’s skyline.

Two more major projects are just under way -- Brockman Hall for Physics and the renovation of Baker and Will Rice Colleges. A recently announced gift from alumnus Peter Huff ’59 and Nancy Huff will result in the renovation and renaming of O’Connor House, home of the Office of Alumni Affairs and University Events and Center for Student Professional Development. Campus construction will diminish somewhat in the fall and be largely complete by the end of next summer. Other projects are in various stages of preparation or contemplation but will require substantial philanthropic funding to proceed, which presents a great challenge in these times. They include new buildings for social sciences, the Susanne M. Glasscock School of Continuing Studies, an opera theater and, eventually I hope, a new center for the arts.

Let me also update you on our discussions with Baylor College of Medicine, which are progressing under the memorandum of understanding we signed in late March. We established a joint steering committee to guide the discussions and subcommittees to address clinical, academic, financial, governance, regulatory and implementation issues. Discussions will continue over the summer, with an eye toward presenting our progress toward a merger agreement to the Rice Board of Trustees in the fall.

The Centennial Campaign, under the leadership of Trustees and campaign co-chairs Susie Glasscock ’62 and Bobby Tudor ’82, has raised more than $550 million toward our $1 billion goal despite the economic downturn. We are especially grateful for the generosity of our alumni, parents and friends during these challenging financial times. The Centennial Challenge to Young Alumni, a matching gift fund created to increase alumni giving participation from the 10 most recent classes, has been especially gratifying. The challenge is generously supported by Cathryn Rodd Selman ’78 and two anonymous trustees, and our young alumni have responded with vigor. On a percentage basis, their giving is up more than 4 percent over last year, to 22 percent. Overall, the Annual Fund expects to end the fiscal year at or slightly over its goal of $6.6 million. 

These are important times for Rice as we approach the celebration of our 100th anniversary. Planning is well under way to make the centennial anniversary a worthy tribute to what has gone before, and what lies ahead, for this great university. We are pleased that J.D. Bucky Allshouse ’71 of Houston, Teveia Rose Barnes ’75 of the San Francisco Bay Area and Janice Doty ’60 of the New York City area have agreed to serve as co-chairs of planning for the 2012 anniversary celebration. While centennial activities will occur over the next three years, the primary commemoration is planned for the week of October 12, 2012.

I find it hard to believe that it is almost five years since my family and I moved to Houston, not knowing in many respects what lay ahead. At a recent event in Dallas, I was approached after my remarks by one of our graduates. He asked if I had attended Rice. I said no, but asked what had prompted the question. He replied that I had spoken with such passion about the university that he assumed I must have been a graduate. Happily, Ping and I quickly discovered that it is not hard to develop a passion for Rice. With Rice’s centennial celebration just three years away, we are proud to be Owls and deeply grateful to the Rice and Houston communities for making us feel so welcome.

Thank you again for your dedication to our university. We hope you have time to relax over the summer, and look forward to working with you to assure an even more ascendant Rice in its second century.

Very truly yours,                                                        

David W. Leebron                                                   
President