Rice University
EN-13: Community Stakeholder Engagement

Rice’s Vision for the Second Century, which is the foundational strategic vision for the university that has been adopted by the Board of Trustees, explicitly highlights the need to increase its community engagement with the city of Houston. Specifically, the 10-point vision states as its final point that as a university, “We must fully engage with the city of Houston—learning from it and contributing to it—as a successful partnership with our home city as an essential part of our future. We should do so by continuing to integrate Houston into the educational experience of our students, by emphasizing selective areas of research especially important to the city (notably energy and urban studies), by making tangible contributions to improve our city (particularly K-12 education and environmental quality), and by continuing to provide innovative educational and cultural resources to the broader Houston population.”

The Vision for the Second Century serves as the formal policy for community stakeholder engagement at Rice. Furthermore, Rice has procedures and a commitment to ensure that community stakeholder engagement is applied systematically and regularly across the institution's activities.

In terms of strategy and operations, Rice has a Strategy and Planning Committee. The Vice President of Public Affairs sits on this committee, representing the interests of the community, and the Vice President for Resource Development represents the interests of the community through stewardship contacts.

In terms of governance, the board of trustees reaches out and identifies community stakeholders within the community who are representative of important business sectors as well as constituent groups within the city of Houston, and more broadly, the state of the nation.

Rice’s Public Affairs group hosts quarterly community luncheons with 30 representatives of neighborhood groups, non-profits, vendors, and other key stakeholders in the area immediately surrounding the university to share information, discuss issues, and otherwise engage with community leaders.

Overall, community engagement is a top priority for the University, and essentially every element of Rice has adopted this vision as an overarching mantra.

According to David Medina, Rice’s director of Multicultural Community Relations (MCR), Rice University seeks to maintain a diverse community at all levels and “to build bridges whenever essential and dismantle walls wherever necessary.” The Multicultural Community Relations organization was established to enhance relationships between Rice and the minority communities inside and outside the university. Multicultural Community Relations extends Rice’s wealth of enrichment opportunities to everyone in the Houston community through coordination with local multicultural groups. These groups comprise current students, alumni, and neighborhood and city associations:
(1) Community Dialogue Luncheons: Community Dialogue Luncheons serve as a forum for community leaders to discuss social issues that affect all sectors of society. Offered quarterly, these luncheons provide an informal round table for engaging discussion and idea sharing and encourage people form various ethnic and cultural backgrounds to get to know each other and form a network.

(2) Rice Connection Speaker Series: Multicultural Community Relations launched a new program in December 2010, the Rice Connection Speaker Series, in which a Houston community leader is invited to present a lecture to Rice faculty, staff and students about a pressing social issue. The participating group is limited to 25 guests. Each luncheon focuses on a timely topic and hosts a different set of goals.

(3) K-12 Outreach Programs: Through a number of outreach programs, Rice University fosters a culture of understanding between diverse people, ideas and perspectives. The following are some of the programs offered:
-College information sessions and career day appearances: MCR conducts age-appropriate, on-campus sessions for students in high school, middle school and elementary school to create an awareness of the steps needed to access college admission and financial resources for college. During these sessions, Rice undergraduates share their strategies for navigating the college admission and financial aid process. When possible, Rice professors provide interactive academic enrichment sessions. MCR also provides similar presentations on-site for community schools.
-Davila Science Conference: MCR partners with Davila Elementary School to host an interactive science conference for its fourth- and fifth-graders. In addition to hosting the event, MCR recruits Rice faculty and students as well as community members from the Davila family, for whom the school is named, to present at this event. Since 2009, 375 students have attended since 2009.
-College essay camp for rising seniors: This program consists of a week-long writing workshop designed to help students create a high-quality college admission essay, as well as help them understand the college admission process. Classes are offered to 50 rising seniors who have taken a college preparatory curriculum and who come from low-to-moderate-income families

The 10-county greater Houston metropolitan area has a population of approximately 6 million people, and different elements within Rice have different lists of community stakeholders based upon what they aspire to accomplish at the University. Thus, a comprehensive list of identified community stakeholders at Rice would be extensive. A small sample of such stakeholders would include:

Boulevard Oaks Civic Association
Christ the King Lutheran Church
Congregation Emanu El Houston
Emmanuel Episcopal Church
Hermann Park Conservancy
Houston City Council District C Office
Houston Hillel
Houston Museum District
Morningside Place Civic Club
Museum Area Municipal Association
Old Braeswood Property Owners Association
Palmer Memorial Episcopal Church
Rice Catholic Student Center
Rice Village Alliance
South Main Alliance
Southampton Extension Civic Association
Southgate Civic Club
Texas Medical Center
University Place Association

Over the past three years, Rice has had a number of successful community stakeholder engagement outcomes. The following are a few notable outcomes:
(1) Rice University Centennial Luncheon Honoring the Houston Community: This Centennial event was specifically intended to recognize Rice University’s supporters and friends in the Houston and Texas communities. 300 community members attended, and showed their support for the University’s mission.

(2) Centennial Grove Tree Planting: More than 75 volunteers gathered at Hermann Park on November 16th, 2012 to plant the Rice Centennial grove in recognition of the centennials of Rice University (2012) and Hermann Park (2014). In just a few hours, the volunteers—consisting of Rice faculty, staff and students and Houston community members—planted 100 oak, bald cypress and other native trees in a reforestation area close to the park’s boathouse and picnic areas on the east side of McGovern Lake.

(3) Parking permit regulations: In an effort to respect neighboring community members and their parking availability, Rice implemented stricter parking regulations. The regulations explicitly state that, “Rice values its cordial relations with area residents, businesses and institutions and looks to the members of the Rice community to help maintain these positive relationships. In furtherance of those relationships, Rice views, and encourages its faculty, staff and students to also view, available on-street parking in the residential neighborhoods near Rice as being intended and reserved for the primary use of the residents of these neighborhoods and their visitors. When visiting residents or working at Rice-owned properties, Rice students, staff, faculty, contractors and guests are asked and expected to park in university-provided parking facilities, not on neighborhood streets.”

(4) Campus updates: Rice University is committed to establishing a mutually beneficial relationship with Houston’s community leaders and our neighbors. To accomplish that, Rice’s staff goes out of its way to participate in community events and keep its neighbors informed about what is taking place on campus. These campus updates are continuously updated on the University Relations webpage, and are intended to inform community members of upcoming events, such as construction and performances, which may impact Rice’s neighboring areas.

Rice's Vision for the Second Century (Engagement with Houston): http://professor.rice.edu/professor/Houston.asp

Multicultural Community Relations: http://staff.rice.edu/staff/Home5.asp

Parking regulations: http://parking.rice.edu/uploadedFiles/Parking/Registration/Rates_and_Information/Parking%20regulations%20w-%20pic.pdf

University Relations: http://staff.rice.edu/Template_PublicAffairs.aspx?id=382

Centennial Tree Planting: http://news.rice.edu/2012/11/28/planting-a-living-lasting-tribute-to-rice-and-hermann-park/