RICE: Where Are We Now? Where Can We Go?

Facilities

In 1993, as we discussed the future, it seemed quite clear that the quality of the university’s academic, research, and housing facilities often fell short of the quality of our faculty and students and would require substantial improvement.

We had unsuitable housing for undergraduate and graduate students, and only two-thirds of our undergraduates could be housed on campus. Many faculty members had poor office space, and all too often, they were doing 21st-century research in laboratories built in the early 20th century. This was a state incompatible with our high aspirations.

Over the past decade, we made significant investments in new facilities in support of student life as well as academic programs in humanities, social sciences, science, and engineering. Half of our dozen new facilities are for academic and research purposes: James A. Baker Hall for the Baker Institute and the social sciences, the Humanities Building, Anne and Charles Duncan Hall for engineering, the new Jesse H. Jones Graduate School of Management Building, Dell Butcher Hall for the Center for Nanoscale Science and Technology, and an astronomical observatory. In housing, we dedicated Martel College, our first new residential college in 30 years, built a new facility for Wiess College, made additions to Brown and Jones Colleges, and completed the Graduate Student Apartments just off campus. Athletics received a boost with Reckling Park for baseball and the Cox Fitness Center, which also is used by other members of the Rice community. And early this year, we opened a state-of-the-art remote library at our 35-acre Main Street property just down the road.

But new facilities are just part of the picture. We updated portions of Fondren Library, and we totally renovated and expanded Herring Hall and Rayzor Hall for humanities, giving us, along with the Humanities Building a “humanities corridor” along South Loop Road. Keck Hall was completely renovated for bioengineering. We made major enhancements to Jones, Brown, and Hanszen Colleges, including new commons and new kitchens. And we purchased the nearby Morningside Square Apartments to provide additional graduate student housing.

As a result of these additions and renovations, the replacement value of our buildings increased by nearly 50 percent from $501 million in 1992 to $742 million in 2003. In more human terms, total campus space over the past decade grew by 36 percent, total teaching space increased by 54 percent, and nearly 80 percent of all undergraduates now live on campus.

RICE: Faculty Assets