Bremen University Focus of Next Scientia Talk

Bremen University Focus of Next Scientia Talk

RICE NEWS
December 2, 1999

The story of Rice’s part in the creation and organization of the International University Bremen, in Germany, will be the topic of the next Scientia lecture.

Raymond Wells Jr., professor of mathematics and education, will present a lecture titled “Rice in International Perspective: the Bremen Initiative” at 4 p.m. Thursday, Dec. 9, in the Kyle Morrow Room of Fondren Library.

In November 1997, a Rice University delegation visited Bremen at the invitation of the city-state government to investigate the possibility of an international educational cooperation, Wells said. As a result of that initial visit and many other contacts, International University Bremen was founded in Bremen in February 1998, with the first student body to arrive in fall 2001.

This new private research university will be the first of its kind in continental Europe and will be modeled in many ways on contemporary American research universities, including many facets of Rice University, Wells said. This lecture will outline the story of this remarkable development in such a short period of time as well as the significant roles Rice University and two other key founders–the city-state of Bremen and its local public university, the University of Bremen–have played.

Scientia sponsors an annual series of colloquia exploring a broad topic from a variety of viewpoints. For more information about Scientia visit its Web site, http://www.ruf.rice.edu/~scientia/.