Application Boom $15 Million Gift to Redesign Engineering Education John Doerr
Word is spreading that Rice University is on the move, and prospective students are hearing the call. This year, undergraduate applications passed the 10,000 mark for the first time in Rice history and then went on to officially top 11,000. Vice President for Enrollment Chris Muñoz credits Rice’s standing as one of the best values in education for keeping the university as the top choice for the best students. “Students know we are taking our exceptional educational experience to even higher levels; populating our campus with great new educational, residential and recreational buildings; and setting our sights on being one of the best research universities in the world,” Muñoz said. Although applications from residents of Texas, historically Rice’s strongest constituency, were up 10.5 percent, the most dramatic increases were from foreign nationals, AfricanAmericans and non-Texans. The number of female applicants to Rice rose 15.2 percent, compared with a 9.8 percent increase for males. The figures are good news as Rice prepares to admit its largest freshman class ever. With two new residential colleges nearing completion, the university will have the capacity to welcome an estimated 900 new undergraduates in 2009, up from the record 2008 freshman class of 789. —Mike Williams
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Two Rice University alumni with engineering degrees — he a famed venture capitalist, she an environmental activist — have given their alma mater $15 million to transform the way engineers are educated. The gift from the Benificus Foundation, a private charitable organization set up by alumni John ’73 and Ann Howland Doerr ’75, will fund the new Rice Center for Engineering Leadership and raise the bar for engineering educators nationwide. The center’s mission is to broaden Rice engineering education by incorporating current and
University. His interests as an entrepreneur and philanthropist extend to innovative green technology, urban public education, fighting poverty and the advancement of women as leaders. Ann Doerr, who earned bachelor’s and master’s degrees in electrical engineering at Rice, is an environmental activist and a trustee of the New York-based
“Our increasingly complex and global world demands great, ethical engineering leaders, and you can’t fake integrity.” —Ann Doerr
emerging crises facing society and developing personal leadership skills needed to solve pressing global problems. “Our increasingly complex and global world demands great, ethical engineering leaders,” Ann Doerr said. “And you can’t fake integrity.” “The world’s best engineers are entrepreneurs and leaders,” added John Doerr, who was No. 1 this year on Forbes Magazine’s Midas list of the world’s top 100 tech deal makers. “They’re willing to take risks. They know innovation matters but execution is everything. It takes leadership to change the world.” Doerr earned undergraduate and master’s degrees in electrical engineering from Rice and an MBA from Harvard
Environmental Defense Fund. The gift brings the Doerrs’ commitment to the Centennial Campaign to $22.5 million. A matching component of their donation could bring an additional $10 million to the center. Their other recent donations funded computational cancer research administered by the Ken Kennedy Institute for Information Technology and two endowed chairs, one named for Kennedy’s parents and currently held by Professor Krishna Palem and one held by Professor Keith Cooper. —Mike Williams
Learn more about the Centennial Campaign and giving to Rice University: › › › www.rice.edu/centennialcampaign