The Houston Enriches Rice Education (H.E.R.E.) Project is an innovative curricular and research initiative that will advance Rice's relationship to the larger Houston community and enhance faculty research and both undergraduate and graduate education. It accomplishes these objectives by bringing the unique socio-political research materials available only in Houston to the Rice community and by integrating Rice learning environments into the greater Houston area. Houston offers unique intellectual resources for exploring local social history and political change from the Civil Rights era to the present because of the many key social and political pioneers of which the city can boast and the rich oral and written histories that they provide. The HERE Project taps these resources with its three key features:
- A Distinguished Visiting Lecturers initiative that creates opportunities for Rice faculty and students to learn from the achievements of particular Houston residents.
- An archive that fosters new research materials for graduate and undergraduate students advances knowledge concerning historically significant developments in the Houston area.
- A speaker series that enriches campus-wide dialogue on pressing socio-political, economic and cultural issues related to Houston and of concern to Rice.
In addition to these features, the HERE Project is initiating a fourth component: The High School Outreach Initiative. This initiative consists of an essay contest, funded through the support of the Humanities Research Center, involving students from roughly ten schools within the HISD. The top three writers will receive cash prizes. They and an additional number of students awarded honorable mentions will receive college preparation training. This program is meant to enhance Rice's relationship to a high school audience generally not represented in substantial ways in its undergraduate population, in ways that generate goodwill between Rice and the larger Houston community, and that strengthen Rice's relationship to public education in Houston in ways consistent with the "Vision for the Second Century.
- Download more information on the Essay Contest, including application instructions (Deadline: March 15, 2008.)
- See Rice News coverage of the project (11/27/07) and of its first lecturer (3/19/08)
HERE Speakers Series
Wednesday, April 23, 2008
6:30 - 8:00 pm
Herring Hall, Room 100
Edith Irby Jones, M.D., M.A.C.P, Chief of Medical Staff, Riverside General Hospital.
Dr. Jones was the first black graduate of the University of Arkansas School of Medicine. Based on her outstanding contributions to medicine, she was elected the first female president of the National Medical Association and was the first black woman resident at Baylor College of Medicine Affiliated Hospitals. Dr. Jones founded the Edith Irby Jones Foundation to fund scholarships for the needy and has achieved local and national recognition through her many contributions to civil religious and political issues.
Tuesday, April 22, 2008
Preparing for a Lifetime of Leadership
4:00 - 5:30 pm
Sewall Hall, Room 301
Pastor Kirbyjon Caldwell
Tuesday, April 8, 2008
Educating Houston
6:30 - 8:30 p.m.
Herzstein Hall, Room 210
Moderator: Siva Kumari, Advisor to the Provost, K-12 Initiatives, Rice University
Panelists:
Daniel De Leon, Principal, Chavez High School
Julia Dimmitt, Executive Principal, Central Regional Office, HISD
Ronald L. Mumphery, Principal, Cullen Middle School
Cynthia Wilson, Regional Superintendent, HISD
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