Rice, Houston school district celebrate longime collaborations

Jade Boyd
– April 25, 2002Posted in: Current News

Rice,
Houston school district celebrate longtime collaborations
…………………………………………………………………

BY JADE BOYD
Rice News Staff

The longstanding
collaboration between Rice and the Houston Independent School
District is a model for universities and K-12 school districts
nationwide, officials of both organizations said at a reception
this month honoring Rice-HISD outreach programs.

The April 15 reception, hosted by Rice President Malcolm
Gillis, drew HISD Superintendent Kaye Stripling, HISD Board
President Laurie Bricker, Houston City Councilman Mark Goldberg,
HISD board members Dianne Johnson and Lawrence Marshall,
and about 250 faculty, staff and classroom teachers from
Rice and HISD.

Gillis told the audience that Rice’s long-standing
association with HISD has grown significantly in recent
years.

“Today, Rice sponsors 67 initiatives — up 50 percent
since 1997 — that annually affect 5,000 teachers and
80,000 students,” said Gillis.
Stripling said the district’s relationship with Rice
is among the most fruitful of outreach partnerships that
HISD has cultivated.

“We could not in any way educate the 210,000 students
that we have — with the diversity that we’re faced
with — without the help of all of the people in this
room,” said Stripling.

Richard Tapia, director of Rice’s Center for Excellence
and Equity in Education, moderated a question-and-answer
session at the end of the program.

Tapia told the
audience that Houston occupies a unique place in the fabric
of the nation because of the city’s demographic makeup.
He said Houston is the only major U.S. city where Hispanics,
African-Americans and Anglos each represent about 30 percent
of the population.

“At a national level, people see the potential of Houston
— even more than we who live here on a daily basis,”
Tapia said. “We’re doing something right. We’re
bringing people together.”

The reception was sponsored by the Office of the President,
the Office of the Associate Provost, the Center for Excellence
and Equity in Education, the Center for Technology in Teaching
and Learning, the Center for Education, the Community Involvement
Center, the Department of Biochemistry and Cell Biology,
the School of Continuing Studies, the National Science Foundation’s
GK-12 Fellows Program, The Public Connection, the Rice University
School Mathematics Project, and the Alliances for Graduate
Education and the Professoriate at Rice.

About Jade Boyd

Jade Boyd is science editor and associate director of news and media relations in Rice University's Office of Public Affairs.