New Web site compiles variety of info about Rice-BCM merger

FROM RICE NEWS STAFF REPORTS

A new Web site shares information about the yearlong discussions between Rice University and Baylor College of Medicine (BCM) about a possible merger. The site compiles information that both schools have been communicating with their respective communities about the organizational and financial challenges of such a complex merger. It can be found at http://www.rice.edu/ricebcm.

The site includes a communications and consultation timeline back to October 2008 that shows more than 120 meetings and discussions in which President David Leebron and other Rice leaders and faculty have discussed the potential benefits and risks of a merger and the conditions that must be met before a merger can move forward. Most recently he spoke on these topics in his State of the University address and at Town Hall and Student Association meetings, and he scheduled open-office hours on Nov. 9 and 13 for faculty and others to share their views in person.

In addition to the timeline, the Web site features FAQs, reports from the Rice Faculty Merger Review Committee and the Rice-BCM Subcommittee on Academic Matters, Leebron’s State of the University presentation and background on BCM.

Another section spotlights biomedical and health-related multidisciplinary programs of interest at other schools, such as Yale, Harvard and the University of Pennsylvania.

The site also compiles merger-related articles from the Houston Chronicle, Rice News and the Rice Thresher, including the recent Nov. 6 commentary in the Rice Thresher by professors Jennifer West and Richard J. Smith and the Nov. 13 commentary in the Houston Chronicle by Rebecca Richards-Kortum, Jennifer West, John Boles and John McDevitt, both describing the potential research benefits from a merger.

Statements from the community, including physicians, scientists and administrators at Texas Children’s Hospital, are also available.