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Entrepreneurship Centers and others, the alliance also hosts the Rice Business Plan Competition, the premier program of its kind in the world. In 2010, 42 graduate-level teams from around the globe competed for more than $1 million in prizes, and 2011 promises to be even more spectacular. Over the last few years, the Rice Alliance has assisted in the launch of more than 250 start-up companies — more than 40 of which are based on Rice technology — and raised in excess of $500 million in early-stage funding. Rice is home to more than 60 such centers and institutes, but interdisciplinary and interinstitutional efforts here aren’t just about formalized initiatives. Scores of our researchers across the disciplines are engaged in solving problems with researchers in other departments, schools and institutions at every level, from local to international. The Gulf Coast Consortia (GCC) is a perfect example. Bringing together Rice, BCM, the University of Houston, the University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston, the University of Texas Medical Branch at Galveston and MD Anderson Cancer Center, the GCC builds interdisciplinary collaborative research teams and training programs in the biological sciences at their intersection with the computational, chemical, mathematical and physical sciences to provide a cutting-edge collaborative environment and research infrastructure — one beyond the capability of any single institution. Goal 6: We must continue to invest in our professional schools and integrate their success into the broader university. Our professional schools — the Shepherd School of Music, the Jesse H. Jones Graduate School of Business and the School of Architecture — all rank in the top tiers nationwide.
One of the country’s premier music schools, the Shepherd School of Music is celebrated for its orchestral, conducting, opera and composition programs. More than 70,000 Houstonians regularly attend more than 350 concerts and recitals offered each year by Shepherd School students and faculty, and Shepherd School graduates have won coveted positions in leading orchestras and opera companies around the globe. In fact, 38 percent of the artists in the Houston Symphony this season are Shepherd alumni, teachers and current students. As icing on the cake, Shepherd School students have been selected for the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts Conservatory Project for eight consecutive years. In 2010, the Fiske Guide to Colleges named the Shepherd School among the top 10 undergraduate music programs. The Jesse H. Jones Graduate School of Business has made dramatic progress in entrepreneurship education over the last four years. During that time, the school moved from an unranked position into the No. 6 spot in the country, according to the Princeton Review. The Jones School is one of only four schools to achieve a “Top 10” ranking during both of the past two years, and its full-time MBA program was ranked fourth in the world for finance and ninth for accountancy in the Financial Times’ 2010 survey. Just recently, the Jones School’s MBA program was ranked No. 1 in Texas and the Southwest by The Economist, among the top 15 for finance and accountancy by the Princeton Review, and No. 8 among professional MBA programs by Businessweek. Ranked No. 3 according to Design Futures Council’s 2011 report, the School of Architecture undergraduate program builds a solid foundation for the architects of tomorrow. Students at the School of Architecture have access to an advanced computer
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visualization and research laboratory, a fully equipped model shop and a state-of-the-art fabrication facility. They also gain real-world experience during preceptorships with prestigious architecture firms around the world, and each spring, the school sends 10 fifthyear bachelor’s or third-year master’s degree candidates to the Rice School of Architecture Paris. You can read much more about the Rice School of Architecture in this issue. Although not strictly one of Rice’s professional schools, the Susanne M. Glasscock School of Continuing Studies annually enrolls more than 12,000 people in its professional and personal credit and noncredit courses, making it one of Texas’ largest sources of continuing education courses. In addition, its English as a Second Language program attracts students from more than 100 countries, and the school’s Master of Liberal Studies has grown into the secondlargest master’s program at Rice. As important, the Glasscock School is one of the nation’s largest providers of professional development for more than 4,000 Advanced Placement and International Baccalaureate teachers each year. For many of its programs, the school collaborates with organizations such as the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston; the Houston Museum of Natural Science; the Greater Houston Preservation Alliance; the Writers’ League of Texas; the Association of Fundraising Professionals, Greater Houston Chapter; and HR Houston. Now, the school is raising funds for a new $24 million building.
Learn more about the Vision for the Second Century: › › › www.professor.rice.edu/professor/Vision.asp
Rice Magazine
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No. 9
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2011
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