Recent Rice alums are attaining prominence

FROM RICE NEWS STAFF REPORTS

Who knew that so many recent Rice alumni are working in the White House, directing award-winning movies and playing on professional sports teams?

Such information came to light when Forbes Magazine asked Rice’s Admission Office to provide the names of several famous recent alumni as part of the survey for the magazine’s “America’s Best College Guide.”

Director of Admission Keith Todd solicited suggestions from Alumni Affairs, the President’s Office, Public Affairs and other sources to compile a list of alumni from within the past 10 to 15 years who have attained prominent positions.

Among the suggestions:

Ben Rhodes ’00 is foreign policy speechwriter for President Barack Obama.

Kevin Bailey ’04 is special assistant to the chief of staff for Vice President Joseph Biden.

Julia Weber Chen ’02 serves as a presidential communications officer assigned to the White House Communications Agency.

David Rhodes ’96 is head of American television for Bloomberg TV.

Anna Christy ’98 has performed with a number of operas, including the Metropolitan Opera, the English National Opera, the San Francisco Opera and the Washington Concert Opera.

Troy Williams ’94 is former CEO of Questia.

Maryana Iskander ’97 is COO of Planned Parenthood Federation of America.

Peter Rider ’96 is vice president for talent and operations at Teach for America.

Chris Eska ’98 is writer and director of “August Evening,” which won the Best Feature Film award at the Los Angeles Film Festival and a number of other awards.

Stephen Fell ’05 and Will Thompson ’05 are directors of the nationally acclaimed documentary “Unborn in the USA: Inside the War on Abortion.”

Joel Stein ’95 has recorded four albums, was featured in Time Magazine, was voted Best Houston Guitarist, won six ASCAP awards for songwriting and appeared on a national tour with the Three Irish tenors.

Randy Street ’92 is co-author of the New York Times best-seller “Who.”

Among the recent Rice athletes who have been recruited by professional sports teams:

• Lance Berkman ’98 (Houston Astros)
• Tim Byrdak ’97 (Houston Astros)
• Jose Cruz Jr. ’96 (Houston Astros)
• Ndukwe Kalu ’97 (Houston Texans)
• Jarett Dillard ’08 (Jacksonville Jaguars)
• Craig Stansberry ’06 (San Diego Padres)
• Josh Geer ’06 (San Diego Padres)
• Morris Almond ’07 (Utah Jazz)
• David Aardsma ’05 (Seattle Mariners)
• Paul Janish ’05 (Cincinnati Reds)
• Jeff Niemann ’05 (Tampa Bay Rays)
• Philip Humber ’05 (Minnesota Twins)
• Larry Izzo ’96 (New England Patriots)
• Patrick Dendy ’04 (Carolina Panthers)
• Ryan Pontbriand ’03 (Cleveland Browns)
• Funmi Jimoh ’06 (Olympic track athlete)
• Kareem Streete-Thompson ’95 (Olympic and professional track athlete)

”This really wasn’t that much of a surprise because we learned that thousands of Rice graduates have gone on to leadership roles in business, government and public service when we conducted our alumni survey a year ago,” Vice President of Public Affairs Linda Thrane said. ”But when we started looking at recent graduates for Forbes, we realized a lot of our students make a big impact almost as soon as they walk through the Sallyport.”

If you’re aware of other recent grads who have gone on to prominent positions, send them to Todd at keith.todd@rice.edu.