Unconventional students at Rice: One who found Rice’s ‘hidden gem’


“Humanities are the hidden gem of Rice,” said Mary Charlotte Carroll, a McMurtry College senior majoring in history and Asian studies.

A native of Beaumont in East Texas, Carroll said she found a cherished home in the School of Humanities. “The biggest thing for me is … the quality of the professors that we have here,” she said. “There is so much individualized attention that you get as a humanities student. Also, it’s very, very easy to be involved in humanities research.”

Carroll is leading the creation of Rice’s first undergraduate history research journal, the Rice Historical Review, which will be published this spring. “It’s an opportunity for humanities students to show off the really wonderful, original work that they’ve been doing and to share that with the Rice community,” she said.

Her plans for life after Rice include a one-year master’s program at Cambridge University and law school. She hopes to pursue a career in international human rights work.

Outside of the classroom, Carroll has been exploring a new passion: knitting. “I made my first hat last week,” she said. “It’s such a release … from the really intense educational side of things.”