In 1907, acting upon the recommendation of Woodrow Wilson, then president of Princeton University, the trustees of The Rice Institute named astronomer and mathematician Edgar Odell Lovett the first president of Rice. Lovett's first initiative as president of Rice was to visit 78 major institutions of higher learning in the United States, Europe, and Asia in order to gather ideas for shaping the Institute and solicit recommendations for the faculty. Lovett called for the establishment of a university "of the highest grade," "an institution of liberal and technical learning" devoted "quite as much to investigation as to instruction." "We must keep the standards up and the numbers down," he declared. "The most distinguished teachers must take their part in undergraduate teaching, and their spirit should dominate it all."
The Rice Institute opened in 1912 with an inaugural student body of 77 (48 men, 29 women), 75 of whom hailed from Texas. The opening was celebrated by an academic festival in October 1912 that was attended by distinguished scholars from around the world. At its first commencement, held in 1916, the Institute awarded 27 B.A. degrees, 8 B.S.'s, and 1 M.A. It awarded its first Ph.D. in 1918.
Dates of Note
1816 William Marsh Rice born in Springfield, Massachusetts.
1839 Rice moves to Houston to seek fortune.
1891 Charter establishing The Rice Institute signed.
1896 Death of Rice's second wife; her will claimed half of Rice's estate.
1900 William Marsh Rice murdered.
1901 Albert Patrick imprisoned for the murder.
1904 Legal challenges to Rice's will resolved.
1904 The Rice Institute receives $4.6 million founding endowment from Rice's estate.
1907 Edgar Odell Lovett named first president of The Rice Institute.
1908 Lovett visits 78 institutions of higher learning on an around-the-world trip concluded in 1909.
1911 Cornerstone laid for first campus building, now Lovett Hall.
1912 First classes held: 48 male and 29 female students; 10 male faculty.
1914 Rice becomes charter member of the Southwest Conference.
1916 Honor System adopted by vote of student body.
1916 First commencement exercises: 36 degrees awarded.
1918 First Rice Ph.D. awarded to Hubert Bray (in mathematics).
1928 Rice awarded Phi Beta Kappa chapter.
1930 Founder's memorial statue dedicated.
1946 William Vermillion Houston named second president of Rice.
1950 Rice Stadium opens.
1957 Residential college system initiated.
1960 The Rice Institute formally redesignated as William Marsh Rice University.
1961 Kenneth Sanborn Pitzer named third president of Rice.
1962 Rice donates land for NASA's Johnson Space Center. Speaking in Rice Stadium, President John F. Kennedy announces that the United States intends "to become the world's leading space-faring nation."
1963 Rice opens nation's first department of space science.
1964 Lawsuit allows Rice to modify its charter to admit students of all races and to charge tuition; decision appealed.
1965 Tuition charged for first time ($1,200).
1965 Rice's Department of Architecture, established in 1912, renamed the School of Architecture.
1965 $33 million development campaign launched. ($43 million raised when the campaign concluded in 1970.)
1966 Court decision to modify Rice's charter upheld by appellate court.
1967 Texas Supreme Court dismisses challenge to lower court decision that allowed Rice's charter modification.
1967 Continuing Studies program founded.
1969 William H. Masterson appointed, then withdraws, as president of Rice. Frank Vandiver appointed interim president.
1970 Norman Hackerman named fourth president of Rice.
1974 Jesse H. Jones Graduate School of Administration founded.
1974 Shepherd School of Music founded.
1976 The Brown Challenge, an extraordinary fund-raising program designed to encourage annual gifts, launched. Challenge-related gifts total more than $173.5 million to date.
1979 School of Social Sciences founded.
1981 Rice made repository of NASA's Johnson Space Center archives.
1985 George Erik Rupp named fifth president of Rice.
1990 1990 Economic Summit of Industrialized Nations held at Rice.
1993 S. Malcolm Gillis named sixth president of Rice.
1993 James A. Baker III Institute for Public Policy founded.
1994 Southwest Conference disbands. Rice joins Western Athletic Conference; competition in reorganized WAC to begin in 1996.
1995 The Baker Institute Inaugural Annual Conference draws dignitaries from across the nation and the world to explore foreign policy challenges at the end of the century.