Rice Facts, History

EARLY HISTORY

      On May 13, 1891, Massachusetts-born businessman William Marsh Rice chartered the William Marsh Rice Institute for the Advancement of Letters, Science, and Art as a gesture to the city of Houston, where he had made his fortune. The terms of the charter required that work on the new institute would begin only after Rice's death. However, unforeseen circumstances almost prevented its very founding.

      In 1896, William Marsh Rice's wife died, leaving a will which claimed half of Rice's estate. The claim was challenged, but while this process was moving through the court system, William Marsh Rice was murdered on September 23, 1900, by his valet, Charlie Jones. Jones had conspired with an unscrupulous lawyer, Albert Patrick, to kill Rice and claim his estate by using a forged will.

       When an autopsy ordered by Rice's attorney, Captain James A. Baker, revealed evidence of poisoning, Jones agreed to provide state's evidence against Patrick in return for immunity from prosecution. Patrick was convicted of murder and sent to Sing Sing in 1901 (although pardoned in 1912). Captain Baker's quick action and the favorable legal resolution in 1904 of the claim against Rice's estate cleared the way for the Institute to fulfill its charter's mandate.

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." "We must keep the standards up and the numbers down," he declared. The university would place "no upper limit to its educational endeavor."

The Rice Institute opened in 1912 with an inaugural student body of 77 (48 men, 29 women), 75 of whom hailed from Texas, and 10 faculty members. 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.'s, 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 (photo).
1912	First classes held: 48 male and 29 female students; 10 male faculty.
1914	Rice became 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 (photo) dedicated.
1946	William Vermillion Houston named second president of Rice.
1950	Rice Stadium (photo) opens; 49 years later (photo), it is still Houston's largest outdoor stadium.
1957	Residential college system initiated.
1959	R1 Rice Institute Computer goes online.
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.
1963	A unanimous board files a lawsuit to allow Rice to modify its charter to admit students of all races and to charge tuition.
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 by campaign's conclusion 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 withdrew, 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.
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	Malcolm Gillis named sixth president of Rice.
1993	James A. Baker III Institute for Public Policy founded.
1995	The Baker Institute Inaugural Annual Conference drew dignitaries from across the nation and the world to explore foreign policy challenges.
1996	Southwest Conference disbanded; Rice joins Western Athletic Conference.
1996	The Nobel Prize in Chemistry won by Professors Richard Smalley and Robert Curl for the discovery and application of carbon 60 molecules (buckminsterfullerenes).
1996	The Brown Challenge ends. Contributions total more than $185 million.
1997	Fund-raising campaigns for Computational Engineering and the James A. Baker III Institute for Public Policy successfully completed their goals.
1997	Dedications held for Edyth Bates Old Grand Organ and Recital Hall, the James A. Baker III Institute for Public Policy, and the Center for Nanoscale Technology.
1998	Rice enters into a memorandum of understanding with the Free Hanseatic City of Bremen to collaborate in establishing a new private research university in Germany.
1998	Rice initiates a new undergraduate degree program in bioengineering.
1998	Rice undergraduates win 27 National Science Foundation Fellowships-the most in the university's history-placing Rice first in the nation in the percentage of students who receive this honor.
1999	Rice Owls baseball ranks #1 in the nation during more than eight weeks of regular season play.
1999	In October, former president of South Africa Nelson Mandela speaks in Autry Court before a packed crowd.

RECENT RANKINGS (April 2000 )

1st, best value among the nations 1,600 private universities, Kiplinger's Personal Finance.

1st, least amount of debt per graduate (for private universities) in nation, U.S. News & World Report.

1st, (1998) percentage of undergraduates who recieved National Science Foundation Fellowships (27)

1st, percentage of National Merit Scholars in entering class of any American university—for 10 straight years.

1st, (tied with Wharton, Stanford, Columbia, Kellogg, and Michigan) among America's business schools for graduates employed at three months—100% (Jesse H. Jones Graduate School of Management, Financial Times

2nd, recruiting and retaining Hispanic students, Hispanic Magazine

4th, value for the money (among private American schools) (Jesse H. Jones Graduate School of Management), Financial Times

4th, endowment per student among American universities

5th, best college value in nation, U.S. News and World Report

Updated: Monday, August 6, 2001

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