Secretary of State Mike Pompeo delivered a speech on foreign affairs at the Baker Institute for Public Policy on Nov. 15. He addressed a variety of subjects, from U.S. relations with China to President Donald Trump pulling American troops out of Syria. Pompeo was one of three high-level administration officials to appear at Rice in 2019, along with Vice President Mike Pence and Housing and Urban Development Secretary Ben Carson. His speech generated nearly 750 media mentions of Rice in outlets as diverse as the Associated Press, the Washington Examiner, Fox News and the Hill.
The impeachment of President Trump has led reporters and television producers to regularly call on Rice faculty for perspective and political insights. The historic House vote led to almost 1,000 media mentions of Rice in the last two months of 2019 in outlets such as CNN, the Associated Press, the Daily Mail and Huffington Post. The Senate trial is continuing to generate demand for Rice faculty expertise in the new year.
Saudi Arabia launched the world’s largest initial public offering (IPO) when its stock exchange began selling shares in Saudi Aramco, but the $1.88 trillion valuation on the first day of trading fell short of what the Saudis originally expected. Experts at the Baker Institute were widely quoted by reporters and produced some 325 mentions of Rice in media outlets around the world, including the Wall Street Journal, Agence France-Presse, the National Review and Forbes India.
For a list of November and December media stars, please see the last section of this report.
Government Relations
Government Relations concludes another successful year of outreach and support
As 2019 came to a close, Government Relations engaged in a variety of activities supporting Rice’s state and federal priorities while elevating Rice’s profile with government offices. In November, Government Relations participated in the service academy nomination board for U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz and helped facilitate a science policy discussion between Kelvin Droegemeier, director of the White House’s Office of Science and Technology Policy, and university leaders including President David Leebron. In addition, we participated in a tax policy discussion with Rep. Tom Reed, a member of the House Committee on Ways and Means. Also in November, we led a trip to NASA’s Johnson Space Center (JSC) for a meeting between JSC Director Mark Geyer and a Rice delegation including Vice Provost for Research Yousif Shamoo and deans Reggie DesRoches and Peter Rossky.
In December, Government Relations supported OpenStax’s participation in an education and workforce development task force meeting at a national legislative conference in Arizona. We also helped host a two-day campus visit from the director of the U.S. Army Medical Research and Material Command. We worked with the Baker Institute to plan, host and moderate a roundtable discussion on homelessness best practices between Housing and Urban Development Secretary Ben Carson, Rep. Dan Crenshaw and leaders of Houston’s homeless-serving nonprofits network. Meanwhile, President Leebron participated in the congressional district’s service academy nomination interviews with Crenshaw.
University Relations
2019–2020 Rice United Way Campaign concludes
The 2019–2020 Rice United Way Campaign concluded over the Martin Luther King Jr. Day weekend with a total of 881 campus colleagues contributing $285,250, an all-time record. For the past six years, Rice’s annual United Way campaign, managed by the Office of University Relations, has consistently ranked among the top 50 institutional campaigns citywide, thanks in large part to the generosity of retiring Rice Board of Trustees Chairman Bobby Tudor ’82.
Tudor’s matching gift contributions over the past eight years have encouraged members of the Rice community to make new and increased gifts that lifted the Rice campaign into the United Way’s top-tier Chairman’s Division giving society. Under Tudor, who also serves as honorary chair of the Rice United Way Campaign, Rice has raised more than $2.1 million for United Way to help fulfill the university’s Vision for the Second Century, Second Decade (V2C2) commitment to engaging our community and empowering its success.
Creative Services
Veterans Day program
Creative Services edited and designed Rice’s 2019 Veterans Day Ceremony program. The event took place Nov. 11 in Rice Memorial Center’s Ray Courtyard. George Hirasaki ’67, the A.J. Hartsook Professor Emeritus of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering, was honored for his military service. The ceremony also recognized World War II veteran C.M. “Hank” Hudspeth ’40, lecturer of political science and trustee emeritus, who passed away last July.
Rice Media Center save the date
The Rice Media Center celebrates its 50th anniversary in 2020, and Creative Services is working on a package of materials — including invitations, programs and posters — for the center’s anniversary events. The first project in this series is a save the date, which was mailed to 1,000 Visual and Dramatic Arts Department alumni.
Humanities book presentation poster
Creative Services edited and designed a poster for the School of Humanities to promote a Nov. 18 book presentation. The event featured a conversation with Rice faculty members and Rodrigo Ferreira, a Rice Academy postdoctoral fellow, who translated “Modernity and ‘Whiteness’” by Bolívar Echeverría. Digital copies of the poster were emailed to outside colleagues, and 70 posters were printed and distributed across campus.
Multicultural Community Relations
MCR supports Rice’s diverse alumni and student groups
The Association of Rice University Black Alumni, the Black Student Association and Multicultural Community Relations (MCR) hosted the third annual reception for new black faculty members and administrators Nov. 7. MCR also arranged a visit to the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston for members of the Hispanic Association for Cultural Enrichment at Rice and the Society of Latino Alumni at Rice to view the exhibition of Colombian artist Beatriz Gonzalez Nov. 22.
The poetic word from Latin America
Along with Casa Cultural de las Americas, MCR cosponsored a poet society conference Nov. 5. The conference featured 12 international Latino poets and drew an audience of close to 200 people in the Rice Memorial Center’s Grand Hall. Peruvian singer Tania Libertad capped off the night with a series of songs that captivated the crowd.
Engaging with politics, history and poetry
MCR hosted two luncheons in November, one for the new consulate general of Spain and another for the new consulate general of Mexico. The luncheons introduced the two consulate generals to members of the Rice community who deal with Spain and Mexico. As part of the Community Dialogue Luncheon, MCR invited history Professor Caleb McDaniel to talk about his new book, “A Sweet Taste of Liberty.” The event was attended by more than 30 community leaders. MCR and English Professor Jose Aranda cosponsored a poetry writing workshop for Rice students and staff Nov. 14. The workshop featured Leslie Contreras Schwartz ’02, who is Houston’s poet laureate, and other Latina poets.
Marketing and Digital Communications
In November and December, Rice social media channels received more than 3 million impressions and more than 100,000 engagements.
Impressions: The number of times the content was seen. Engagements: The number of interactions (likes, shares, comments, clicks, etc.).
Followers: The number of people who follow the main Rice accounts.
Twitter’s top post was a photo of Lovett Hall with a caption that referenced the “Harry Potter” books. The post received more than 36,000 impressions and had 3,800 engagements.
Facebook’s top post was about Rice’s graduate entrepreneurship program ranking No. 1 in the U.S. The post reached more than 17,000 people and received more than 2,000 engagements.
LinkedIn’s top post was a video about Rice’s high-achieving women athletes. The video was viewed more than 9,000 times and had 240 engagements.
Instagram’s top post was a photo of Lovett Hall with a caption referencing the “Harry Potter” books. The post received more than 27,000 impressions and 3,655 likes, making this our most-liked photo to date.
Rice.edu
Google Analytics for rice.edu shows a decrease in traffic from Nov. 1 to Dec. 31. Total page views were 884,468, with visitors spending an average of 5 minutes, 36 seconds on the site, an increase from the previous period. While there was a higher bounce rate and a lower number of visitors over the previous period, this is common and can be attributed to the Thanksgiving holiday and winter break.
November/December vs. September/October Page Views: 884,468 vs. 1,111,386 Average Time on Page: 5 minutes, 36 seconds vs. 5 minutes, 33 seconds Bounce Rate: 29.44% vs. 26.30%
As of Dec. 31, Public Affairs and the Office of Information Technology have successfully launched 13 Drupal 8 websites; most notable are the sites for the Office of Financial Aid, Carbon Hub and Housing and Dining.
The two departments are also collaborating on an additional 62 websites as part of the Drupal 7 to Drupal 8 migration. Some of the websites currently under development are:
Artificial Intelligence and Machine Language Initiative
Art History
Boniuk Institute
Center for Civic Leadership
Center for Energy and Environmental Research in the Human Sciences
Center for Languages and Intercultural Communication
Chemistry
Computational and Applied Mathematics
DACA and Undocumented Students
Dean of Undergraduates
Doerr Institute for New Leaders
Energy and Environment Initiative
English
Enterprise Data and Business Intelligence
Environmental Health and Safety
Events
Facilities Engineering and Planning
George R. Brown School of Engineering
Glasscock School of Continuing Studies
Houston Education Research Consortium
Ken Kennedy Institute
Kinesiology
Neuroengineering
Office of Multicultural Affairs
Office of the President
Office of the Provost
OwlSpark
Physics
Profiles (faculty, staff and students)
Religion and Public Life Program
Resources for Corporate Partners
Rice Alliance
Rice At Large
Rice Magazine
Rice Management Co.
Rice News and Media Relations
Rice Student Association
Rice Transportation Demand Management
School of Humanities
School of Social Sciences
Student Judicial Programs
Student Success Initiatives
Success and Opportunity
Tapia Center (includes Tapia Camps)
The Chemistry of Art
The SAFE Office: Interpersonal Misconduct Prevention and Support
The Shepherd School of Music
Volunteer (Development and Alumni Relations)
Wellbeing and Counseling Center
Welcome Center
Media Stars
Constance Porter, assistant clinical professor of marketing at Rice’s Jones Graduate School of Business, had the highest number of media mentions — 1,515 — during November and December, mainly for comments about the limited reopening of Toys R Us in Houston. Below are members of the Rice community who were mentioned in the media 10 or more times during November and December.
Constance Porter
1,515
Mark Jones
1,104
Douglas Brinkley
1,079
Utpal Dholakia
1,062
Drew Peterson
758
Scott Sonenshein
736
Vivian Ho
618
Kirsten Ostherr
610
Trey Murphy III
564
Robert Martin
545
Jeffrey Kripal
532
Kristian Coates Ulrichsen
478
Ako Adams
454
Tony Payan
443
Erica Ogwumike
437
Mike Bloomgren
436
Tom Stewart
403
Payton Moore
346
Quincy Olivari
340
JoVoni Johnson
302
Aston Walter
300
Jim Krane
292
Brad Rozner
253
Chris Mullins
243
Jim Blackburn
228
Tina Langley
211
Jerry Mack
181
Blaze Alldredge
173
Chris Barnes
166
Robbie Picazo
143
Sydne Wiggins
137
Nicole Lennon
132
Jonathan Ajo-Franklin
123
Kelsey Norman
119
Scott Solomon
102
Scott Pera
89
Genny Volpe
84
Anota Adekunle
79
Andrew Barron
79
Peter Rodriguez
77
Nancy Mulkey
64
Bill Fulton
55
Dan Wallach
50
Jun Lou
48
Kelly Weinersmith
47
Jia Liang
45
Kevin McHugh
45
James Tour
41
Ken Cowan
40
Lydia Beaudrot
39
Norman Fischer
37
Richard Gunasekera
37
Patricia Reiff
36
Robert Englebretson
34
Artem Kuznetsov
33
Alexah Chrisman
32
Jasmine Smith
32
Nick Leverett
29
Bob Stein
29
Lee Ann Cunningham
20
Ebrahim Nabizadeh
20
Anshumali Shrivastava
20
Xiaoyin Tian
19
Jing Zhang
19
Adria Martinez
18
Seyed Mohammad Sajadi
16
Tori Woogk
16
Marie Lynn Miranda
15
Francisco J. Monaldi
13
Quianta Moore
13
Kyle Shelton
13
Kenneth Medlock
12
Sylvia Dee
11
Mark Torres
11
Chris Hakkenberg
10
Grace Morgan
10
The chart below shows Rice’s media mentions since 2007. The green column reflects the number of Rice media mentions for 2019.
