Leebron discusses goals and aspirations at fall town hall

With Rice’s second century and his own second decade as president well underway, David Leebron gave an audience of more than 400 an overview of the university and a look at goals and aspirations ahead during his fall town hall meeting Oct. 28 in the Grand Hall.

Leebron provided an update on Rice’s financial well-being, its diversity, research, plans for facilities and other infrastructure and the strategic priorities intended to enhance the research and teaching enterprise and give students the best possible educational experience that reaches beyond the classroom.

The event opened with an a capella set by the Harborlight Choir, a Salvation Army-sponsored group that also delivered a strong case for supporting the United Way. Rice employees’ contributions to the United Way campaign to date have raised three-quarters of the $200,000 goal, and Leebron encouraged them to continue to make this an impactful way that the university gives back to its home community.

Leebron noted that he learned a lot over the summer while visiting other campuses with his college-bound son.

“(It) was a great way for me to think carefully about who we are and what we aspire to do,” he said. His own experience as a parent of a prospective student inspired him to lead several information sessions for visiting prospects and their parents at Rice. “I found our mission statement actually serves us well in thinking about who we are, what we aspire to do and how we intend to do it,” he said.

The Rice mission emphasizes education, pathbreaking research, unsurpassed teaching and contributions to the betterment of the world through a diverse community of learning and discovery that produces leaders, he said.

The Harborlight Choir entertains town hall attendees. Photo by Tommy LaVergne

As applications rise year over year, Rice has been able to recruit what Leebron called one of the most diverse student bodies in the country. He noted also that the student body was not only statistically diverse, but successfully diverse. “We had a dinner at our home the other night with the (residential) college presidents and the leaders of the Student Association,” he said. “They are, themselves, a remarkably diverse group. I think that’s the key, not only that our students are diverse, but our student leadership is incredibly diverse.”

He said students experience that diversity in their daily interactions. “They benefit from that as a part of their experience,” he said.

He said stresses on higher education everywhere are forcing university leaders and faculty to ask tough questions: “What’s the higher education model? Does it need to be so expensive? What are the effects of technology? Are we adequately embracing that technology? What is the actual value we’re delivering to students and how does that need to change? Are we offering the access and affordability that we claim to in providing opportunities, for example, to the less well-off segments of our population? Is the enterprise sustainable?

“Those are issues that, as I come into the office every day, I worry about a little bit,” he said. “What students expect and come here for has changed and will continue to change pretty dramatically, and that’s going to have a big impact on a lot of us.”

Three decades ago, he said, students primarily paid tuition for going to class, for grades and for a formal degree. “There was all this other stuff you could do, and that was kind of thrown in for free and no one paid a lot of attention to it from the administrative perspective. … But that’s not true today,” he said.

Students today want research, leadership and entrepreneurial opportunities, Leebron said. “We need to provide those experiences and then provide the best possible framework for learning from those experiences.”

In an update on campus construction and infrastructure, Leebron said a comprehensive study is underway, examining such issues as drainage, utilities, parking and green space in connection with future construction. Tentative current plans include a parking garage with office space on the Lovett Lot behind Allen Center.

He said groundbreaking for the Moody Center for the Arts is imminent, and fundraising for a new football facility is nearly complete. In response to a question, he said the university will eventually explore options that take advantage of its valuable property on Greenbriar Drive.

Rice President David Leebron talk at his biannual town hall meeting. Photo by Jeff Fitlow

Leebron noted that while Rice remains small among its peers, it is an enterprise with a $600 million annual budget, billions of dollars in facilities and a $5.5 billion endowment that has recovered from the losses that occurred during the 2008 recession.

“What’s different about the environment we’re in now is that the surplus has largely disappeared,” he said. “We’re operating on very thin margins now, so we have to be very conscious about how we spend our resources. But overall, our university is in very strong financial condition.” He noted that the university has maintained its AAA financial rating.

Leebron answered several questions, some submitted prior to the town hall and some tweeted during the meeting. To the first — whether men and women on campus were paid equally — he said “yes,” and added that the university has undertaken a major study of compensation and career development. In response to another question, he said Rice has many ways it recognizes employees’ achievements and length of service, but is open to new ways to honor them. He said that in response to the current public and political focus on sexual assault on college campuses, Rice has stepped up its training and programs to prevent sexual misconduct and to help victims of assaults, including a partnership with the Houston Area Women’s Center.

“It’s something that requires a lot of vigilance,” he said. “One of the things that we’re really stressing with the students … is the responsibility that bystanders and others need to take upon themselves to make sure that people are kept safe.”

Rice’s goals, he said, are to provide the best education for students, to build knowledge that improves human understanding and welfare, to foster creativity and innovation, to be a welcoming campus for all visitors, to be the best place to work for employees and to carry out its mission with passion and excellence.

He repeated the four pillars of the Priorities for the New Century, which include setting strategic academic priorities, making strategic investments in the schools, investing in campus infrastructure and improving administrative efficiency and effectiveness.

It’s all about “knowledge and opportunity,” he said in conclusion.

The Town Hall Committee of B.J. Smith, Carlos Solis and Chair Marie Wehrung welcomes feedback on the event at http://staff.rice.edu/post_event_TownHall_survey.asp. Video of the meeting will be posted on Rice’s website at http://training.rice.edu/TownHall.aspx. The president’s presentation is posted here.