Rice scores big in local news

Rice scores big in local news

RICE NEWS AND STAFF REPORTS

Rice had a banner week in Houston’s major news outlets with 10 appearances on local television broadcasts and 15 articles in the Houston Chronicle, including front-page features Monday and Thursday, a Tuesday feature on the Rice Urban Immersion Project and a pair of editorials that dominated Wednesday’s opinion page.

	A pair of editorials relating to Rice  dominated the Houston Chronicle opinion page Wednesday.

“This week’s stellar coverage is due to the amazing work of our faculty, who do great, newsworthy things and also make time to share that work with the news media,” said Linda Thrane, vice president for Public Affairs. ”And, thanks to the enterprise of Rice’s media relations professionals, more of Rice’s great stories are becoming available to local and national audiences.”

Monday’s front-page feature highlighted Rice’s efforts to attract and retain more female faculty in science, engineering and mathematics through programs like the federally funded ADVANCE initiative. A half-dozen faculty, staff and students were quoted, named or photographed in the piece, including Dean of Natural Sciences Kathy Matthews.

Thursday’s page-one feature focused on the first human clinical trials of gold nanoshells for cancer therapy. The article quoted nanoshells researchers Naomi Halas, the Stanley C. Moore Professor in Electrical and Computer Engineering, and Jennifer West, the Isabel C. Cameron Professor and chair of the Department of Bioengineering.

One of Wednesday’s editorials focused on a recent study indicating that girls perform as well as boys on standardized math testing. It referenced the ADVANCE story from Monday and again quoted Matthews, the ADVANCE co-principal investigator. The second editorial focused on the future of Houston’s Hispanic population and resulted from research by Stephen Klineberg, professor of sociology, who is collaborating with the Houston Hispanic Chamber of Commerce. Rice’s director of multicultural community relations, David Medina, made the connection between Klineberg and the chamber.

The Rice Urban Immersion Project feature quoted Rice President David Leebron; Christa Leimbach, assistant director of Rice’s Community Involvement Center, and Hanszen College sophomore Michelle Sam on the one-week community service program Rice offers to incoming freshmen. 

The TV broadcasts included appearances by Earth Science’s Dale Sawyer about the Los Angeles earthquake, Economics’ Ken Medlock about  global energy markets, the Center for Education’s Judy Radigan about English as a second language, Economics’ Peter Hartley about the federal deficit and Political Science’s Mark Jones and Ric Stoll about local and national elections.

Thrane said that Rice’s media relations professionals are always looking for stories ideas they can share with reporters. Rice’s media relations team is assigned to beats that cover the entire university. For more information, call 713-348-6774. 

Rice’s media activity is featured each day in Dateline Rice, an e-mailed report that includes news stories from local, state, national and international sources. To subscribe to Dateline Rice, click here or visit www.rice.edu/ricenews.