RICE'S TRADITION IN PUBLIC SERVICE

OUTREACH--GENERAL PUBLIC

In addition, modern dance performances by Rice Dance Theater, theatrical productions by the Rice Players and residential colleges, and a wide variety of annual lectures and symposia are offered. The current month's events are listed weekly on the back page of the Rice News. Houston's March of Dimes has been an annual event on campus for the past several years; also held on campus are city-wide sports events, rock concerts, astronomical observations, festivals, manufacturer's new car inaugural test runs, and fashion and bridal photo shoots.

Conference rooms are available for reservation.

Free campus tours are given by University Relations for school field trips and foreign visitors.

The Career Services Center offers a variety of career testing and advising to the general public.

Both the student newspaper, Rice Thresher, and the faculty/staff newspaper, Rice News, are available for free on campus and in the surrounding area. Sallyport magazine presents feature stories and articles about the university. Owlmanac features news and alumni profiles and chronicles classes by year. The student magazine flux highlights literary submissions from both professional and nonprofessional writers. Also staffed by students, The University Blue magazine features original poetry, prose, art, and photography by students, faculty, and alumni.

KTRU 91.7 FM is the 50,000-watt student-operated campus radio station broadcasting an eclectic mix of music, news, sports, and educational programming; it also sponsors campus concerts.

The Rice University Internet Homepage, located at http://www.riceinfo.rice.edu, is a global link to the campus community and campus events. This website contains a wide range of information that varies from club sports to faculty research. Viewers can take a campus tour, browse the library catalogs, check admission requirements and course schedules, find out what's for dinner in the residential colleges, and more.

OUTREACH--AWARDS

Computational and Applied Mathematics professor/CRPC Human Resources Director Richard Tapia's outreach programs in the last 10 years have trained and encouraged more than 750 students and 700 teachers, most of them underrepresented minorities, to pursue interests in math and science. This work has helped the Computational and Applied Mathematics department lead the nation in graduating women and minority Ph.D.'s. In recognition of his work, Tapia received the 1996 Presidential Award for Excellence in Science, Mathematics, and Engineering Mentoring from President Clinton.

OUTREACH--FACULTY/STAFF

Howard Hughes Medical Institute Biological Sciences Initiative. This program includes a summer science camp for middle school girls and a teacher training program (both conducted at the Rice/HISD School) and curriculum efforts at several high schools. Contact: Dr. Fred Rudolph, 713.527.4017, fbr@rice.edu.

Rice School/La Escuela Rice. A collaboration among Rice, HISD, and parents and community organizers, this public laboratory school for 1,200 primary and middle school students serves as a model for technology and instruction throughout HISD. Contact: Dr. Roland Smith, 713.737.5688, rbsmith@rice.edu.

Gulf Coast Alliance for Minorities in Engineering (GCAME). This program encourages minority students in the 8th grade to pursue college degrees and careers in engineering. Contact: Scott Granlund, 713.527.8101(x3653), granlund@rice.edu.

Mathematical and Computational Sciences Awareness Workshop. Honored as a model program by the National Science Foundation, this workshop educates teachers from Houston area elementary and high schools about mathematical and computational science careers that their students, especially underrepresented minorities, might productively pursue. Contact: Theresa Chatman, 713.285.5180, tlc@cs.rice.edu.

Rice University Summer School. Student teachers from Rice's education department and master teachers from the Houston area teach enrichment and regular credit courses to children in grades 6 through 12. Contact: Dr. Lissa Heckelman, 713.527.4967, heckel@rice.edu.

South Texas Science Academy. This joint program with the Science Academy of South Texas provides summer intern programs and curriculum development support. Contact: Dr. Fred Rudolph, 713.527.4017, fbr@rice.edu.

Spend a Summer with a Scientist Program. Undergraduate students from historically underrepresented ethnic groups work on research projects with Rice faculty. Contact: Theresa Chatman, 713.285.5180, tlc@cs.rice.edu.

OUTREACH--GENERAL

Rice Emergency Medical Service (REMS) provides medical care to the Rice community in the event of an emergency. This is a volunteer program involving students, faculty, and staff who are certified Emergency Medical Technicians. REMS also provides emergency medical care for special events, as well as an EMT training course every spring. Contact: Mark E. A. Escott, 281.433.1189.

The Rice Outdoors Club (ROC), run by students with a faculty sponsor, plans outdoor activities for weekends, academic breaks, and summers, including rock climbing, hiking, flat-water canoeing and white-water rafting, caving, and biking, for Rice students, faculty, and staff. Contacts: Doug Ramsey, 713.630.8750, dug@owlnet.rice.edu, and Jonathan Franklin, raksha@owlnet.rice.edu.

The Rice University Wellness Center Aerobic Program is open to students, faculty, staff, alumni and the community; each semester, yoga, strength training, aqua aerobics, and circuit training are among the options offered. Contact: Margaret Brown, 713.527.4058.

The Naval Science department, which administers Rice's ROTC program, is in the process of establishing an outreach project involving Rice's first ROTC alumni association. This lecture series, given by Rice ROTC alumni, will demonstrate to current midshipmen that the values stressed for military life are also relevant to civilian life. Contact: Captain W. O. King, Jr., 713.527.3394.

Work projects, field trips, special events, program lunches/dinners are integral parts of the Rice Historical Society, which is committed to collecting and preserving Rice University's history. Contact: Greg Marshall, 713.527.4057, gmarshal@ruf.rice.edu.

OUTREACH--STUDENT AFFAIRS

SOAR (Students Organized Against Rape). Concerned men and women work to decrease the incidence of acquaintance rape and other forms of sexual assault by promoting awareness through education at Rice and in the community. Contact: Dr. Cynthia Lanier, 713.285.5194, clanier@rice.edu.

Community Involvement Center

1. Volunteer Referrals. As a clearinghouse of resources and referrals on community agencies and service opportunities, the CIC offers easy access to over 600 volunteer opportunities within the Houston area. Information on national and international services are available, as well.

2. Resource Library. A growing collection of information on community service, English as a Second Language, literacy and other social issues is available.

3. Outreach Days. Coordinated in conjunction with the Rice Student Volunteer Program, this tri-annual event organizes several hundred students, faculty, and staff to participate in a day of service activities.

4. Urban Immersion. This program is designed to orient incoming students to community service and the urban issues and social needs in the Houston area through an intensive week of service projects, visits to local social service agencies, and structured reflection sessions.

5. Good Works Volunteer and Career Fair. Provided in conjunction with Career Services, this event is an opportunity for students to learn about volunteer positions, internships, and employment with local, national and international nonprofit public service agencies.

6. ESL Tutoring Program. The English as a Second Language Tutoring Program trains and coordinates Rice students to work one-on-one with University employees and community members.

7. International Service Project. Students, faculty, and staff are invited to spend two weeks each summer living and working as international volunteers in a project planned and coordinated by the CIC.

8. Service Learning Advocacy. The CIC works with faculty and students to design service-learning components for existing classes and to develop new service-learning courses in order to link academic theory with practical experience and to encourage students to use their education to respond to human needs.

9. Alternative Break Program. During academic breaks, students participate in a variety of national and international service project trips planned by the CIC or one or more student organizations.

Student Service Organizations

1. Amnesty International Chapter. The Rice Campus Chapter of this national organization meets weekly to write letters on behalf of persons imprisoned for their political or religious beliefs and to raise awareness of worldwide human rights issues.

2. Best Buddies. The Rice Chapter of Best Buddies matches Rice students with adults from the Center for the Retarded.

3. Friends of Young Minds. Members of the Rice community have organized to find and ship older computers from the U.S. to students in India.

4. Habitat for Humanity Chapter. Rice's chapter of Habitat for Humanity works every Saturday alongside homeowners to build and rehabilitate houses in the Houston area for the purpose of eliminating substandard housing and alleviating homelessness. The chapter also offers an annual Spring Break service trip to Honduras.

5. Headstart. In this federally funded preschool program for children from low-income families, Rice volunteers assist teachers by working with children at a local center.

6. Junior Achievement. Rice students volunteer to teach business skills and concepts to at-risk elementary school students in order to show them the applicability of what they are learning in school to real life.

7. One-on-One Tutoring. Each Saturday, Rice volunteers work as tutors and role models for boys from low-income families.

8. Operation Success. Rice volunteers provide after-school tutoring and mentoring for students at Jack Yates High School.

9. OUTReach. Volunteers spend time each week at Yzaguirre School and Queen of Peace Middle School. The volunteers and youth discuss issues such as goal setting, peer pressure, and respect for themselves and others.

10. Project Apple. Students serve as volunteer substitute teachers for first, second, and third grade teachers in HISD while the teachers attend professional development programs.

11. Rice Student Volunteer Program. The university's largest student service organization, RSVP works to heighten student awareness of social issues and to increase the community involvement of Rice students by organizing a wide range of service projects by providing funding for other student service groups. RSVP has formed committees to address issues related to children, education, hunger and homelessness, the environment, and health. Projects include Outreach Days, clothing drives, Project Pumpkin, Hunger Banquet, and Beach Clean-ups.

OUTREACH--SELECTED CENTERS

Center for Technology in Teaching and Learning

1. Project OWLink. A distance education environment that connects Rice University faculty with students and teachers at a variety of K-12 schools in Houston and the Rio Grande Valley, this project supports experimentation with two-way full motion, Internet access, and collaborative software. Funding has been provided by Southwestern Bell since June of 1994. Contact: Siva Kumari, 713.527.4796, skumari@rice.edu. See also: http://www.rice.edu/armadillo/Owlink.

2. Rice Channel. A video switching system for the Rice campus provides all the dorm rooms and several classrooms with cable TV connections. This system enables the broadcast of campus-based educational programming via the network, as well as, the broadcast of programming received from other sources.

3. Gardiner Symonds Teaching Laboratory. Faculty and students explore new ways of teaching and learning in this technology-rich environment which includes almost unlimited access to media resources. Faculty and students involved with university courses and outreach programs are frequent users of the innovative facility and work together in a collaborative learning environment. Contact: Janice Bordeaux,713.527.5653, jbordeau@rice.edu, or Doralyn Edwards, 713.527.2595, doralyn@ rice.edu. See also: http://cttl.rice.edu/ projects/Symonds

4. Rice School/La Escuela Rice. This collaborative project involves Rice and HISD. (See earlier description in Faculty/Staff Outreach.

Center for Research on Parallel Computation

CRPC participates in the following programs. Contact: Theresa Chatman, 713285.5180, tlc@rice.edu.

1. GirlTECH. This program teaches K-12 teachers of mathematics, science, and computer literacy how to incorporate effectively computer technology into the classroom, as well as how to encourage more young women to pursue careers in mathematics and science.

2. Girl Games Project. CRPC researchers have been working successfully with Girl Games, Inc., to develop interactive software that appeals to girls.

3. Computers: The Machines, Science, People and Careers! More than 100 minority high school students benefit from this program offered annually at the California Institute of Technology. Students obtain firsthand exposure to problems and issues in computer science in order to create awareness of career opportunities in science, engineering, and mathematics and to demystify scientific research.

4. Expanding Your Horizons in Math and Science Conference. Approximately 500 middle school girls and their teachers attend math and science workshops presented by women who specialize in these fields.

5. Course Development. CRPC sites design and implement new academic programs in parallel computation and foster the publication and dissemination of educational materials and software.

6. Minorities Teachers Computational Science and Graphics Awareness Program. California high school teachers from schools with large minority enrollments learn about the latest developments and career opportunities in concurrent computing and computer graphics in this program offered annually at Caltech.

7. Research Experience for Undergraduates. CRPC offers talented students research opportunities in high-performance computing at Syracuse University.

8. Retooling the Supercomputing Community for Scalable Parallelism. This program provides professional trainers at the supercomputer center sites with up-to-date curricular materials and training in the use of parallel programming tools and methods.

9. The South-Central Computational Science in Minority Institutions Consortium (SC-COSMIC). Established by CRPC and the University of Houston-Downtown, SC-COSMIC has created a virtual electronic educational community promoting state-of-the-art science and math education. The consortium has sponsored several computational science conferences for minority students.

10. Summer Research Programs in Computing for Women and Minorities. At the California Institute of Technology, undergraduate women and minorities work with Caltech scientists on research projects, including leading-edge computational research using parallel computers.

11. The Syracuse University Living Schoolbook Project. A unique learning environment has been created that enables K-12 teachers and students to use resources on multimedia information servers, supercomputers, parallel databases, network testbeds, and Kids Web, an Internet directory for children information targeted at the K-12 levels.

Rice Center for Education

1. Rice/Baylor Honors Premedical Academy. This six-week summer school program is aimed at increasing medical school acceptance rates among African Americans, Hispanics, Native Americans, and Puerto Ricans.

2. School Writing Project. The School Writing Project has helped English teachers throughout the Houston area make the transition from serving as passive transmitters of state-approved curricula to being authors and innovators in the teaching of writing.

3. Model Science Lab. This lab is designed to close the gap between textbook science and new developments in research. This program trains HISD middle school science teachers in an innovative, hands-on style of science curriculum.

4. Teachers' Network for Early Literacy. This program assists preschool and primary school teachers in the use of the Classroom Storytelling Project, which empowers children to tell stories about their lives and helps them recognize the centrality of literacy in daily life.

5. The Rice University School Mathematics Project (RUSMP), a project of the Rice University Center for Education, offers summer training programs for greater Houston area teachers to strengthen their backgrounds in mathematics and mathematics pedagogy. During the academic year, RUSMP hosts workshops for participants from previous summer programs. RUSMP also offers assistance to schools and school districts desiring to implement reforms in their mathematics programs.

6. Latino Family-School Connection. This research program at Austin High School examines and documents the relationships among school, family, and the Latino community as they affect the academic achievement of Latino students.

7. Asia Outreach Program and Global Education. This program encourages high school teachers to develop and teach innovative curricula in Asian history and culture.

8. The Coalition of Essential Schools. The Coalition is a national school reform organization. Coalition member schools are committed to rethinking and redesigning their pedagogies, curricula, and structures. All Essential Schools hold a set of nine principles in common that give focus to diverse efforts. The Greater Houston Coalition of Essential Schools has a cadre of Houston-based practitioners who assist schools with their restructuring efforts.

9. Project Career Aware. The focus is to develop and implement modifications for K-12 public education that help students make successful transitions to the real world.

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