Pillar 5

Student Conference Support

“Empowered To Choose Her Own Path,” May 31 – June 4, 2025
At The Consortium’s 2025 Orientation Program (OP), incoming Rice Business student Taylor Smith found more than just professional momentum. She found community, clarity and the confidence to pursue a career that’s truly her own. With support from the Rice Business Career Development Office, Taylor managed a demanding lineup of networking and recruiting events, even balancing overlapping opportunities with real-time guidance from advisors and connections to alumni.

And her dedication paid off. After a series of meaningful conversations and mock interviews with CDO career advisor Gloria Ratliff, Taylor received a summer offer from PepsiCo.

From managing high-stakes schedules to making space for students to explore new directions, our team shows up where it matters most. Taylor’s story reflects what we value deeply at Rice Business: investing in each student’s journey and empowering them to pursue work that aligns with who they are and where they want to go.

Rice Business Leading by Example

“Showing Up and Directing the Conversation,” June 13 – 14, 2025
At this year’s Forté MBA Women’s Leadership Conference, Rice Business didn’t just show up — we helped lead the conversation. With two of our career advisors, Mariella de Alba Ortiz and Shelley Richard, moderating key industry panels alongside top MBA talent and alumni, our presence was felt across the conference. But more importantly, it was our students who made the biggest impression.

From building connections to boldly exploring career paths, the incoming Class of 2027 showed the drive, talent and heart that defines Rice Business. Guided by the Career Development Office and supported by a powerful alumni network, they’re stepping into the MBA experience with confidence, ready to lead and lift others as they rise.

This is how Rice Business shows up: together, with purpose, and when it counts most.

Houston Healthcare Trek

“Alumni-Powered, Impact-Driven,” March 28 and April 18, 2025
Thanks to the support and generosity of our alumni, the Rice Business Healthcare Trek returned for the first time in six years and with incredible impact. From candid career insights at Texas Children’s Hospital to behind-the-scenes access at MD Anderson, alumni played a key role in connecting students with Houston’s healthcare innovation ecosystem.

Guided by the Career Development Office and made possible through strong alumni engagement, this trek reflects the power of community in action — opening doors, building networks and inspiring the next generation of healthcare leaders.

EmpowerHer: Together We Thrive

EmpowerHer is a community-building event for women at Rice Business. The event invites undergraduate students, graduate students, faculty and staff to connect, engage in thoughtful tabletop conversation, share their experiences and resources, and grow in community with one another.

Beyond BUSI: Fall 2024 and Spring 2025

Beyond BUSI is a series of quarterly programs for undergraduate students centered around three core values: community building, resource sharing and development. This year, the series featured a S.M.A.R.T. Investing workshop, a fun, hands-on workshop designed to break down complex financial concepts, to give students practical tools to invest wisely early in their career and build wealth while in college. The workshop was led by Andrew Ward, '25, an Investment Specialist and Rice MBA Candidate. We also partnered with the Rice Alliance to host a session, Startups for All, on launching a business during college, where students learned about available resources and how to take their entrepreneurial ideas from concept to reality.

Roy and Hazel Zeff Memorial Fellowship 

Since 2001, the Roy and Hazel Zeff Memorial Fellowship has been awarded to one graduating Rice University senior annually. The fellowship, named after Professor of Accounting Stephen Zeff’s parents, Roy and Hazel Zeff, is a one-year grant for purposeful, independent exploration and travel outside the United States, awarded to graduating seniors to enhance their capacity for resourcefulness, imagination, openness and leadership and to foster their humane and effective participation in the world community.

Recent Recipients:

• 2025: Mark Perkins
• 2024: Rusty Ludwigsen
• 2023: Katherine Wu
• 2022: Sofia Flores-Rojas

MBA Veteran’s Career Conference & Expo

The Career Development Office (CDO) offered conference support to current students attending MBA Veteran’s Career Conference and Expo. We were joined by alums Kianti Brown, Aneketh Gurumurthi, Lia Santos and Monique Peters.

Continuing the Conversation

Rice Business is dedicated to making learning experiences inclusive and forward-thinking. We’re proud to support staff through learning opportunities. Developed by the Office of Belonging and Engagement, these staff-focused workshops encourage learning, community building and dialogue around belonging..

Previous topics include:

• Info Overload, with wellbeing expert Christina Eldrige
• Paris Olympics 2024: Team Dynamics in Action
• The Unwritten Rules of the Workplace: Boundary Setting and Solutions
• Wellbeing and You

Pride Bingo

The Office of Belonging and Engagement hosted our annual Pride-themed bingo for faculty and staff. The event acknowledges the contributions of our LGBTQIA+ community and helps foster an inclusive and welcoming workplace.

The Office of Technology’s Instructional Technology and Design Services (ITDS) team is dedicated to enhancing the teaching and learning environment at Rice Business through the effective utilization of current and emerging technologies.

Resources

TTLS has instructional resources available at business.rice.edu/EdTech; selected resources are detailed below.
Instructional design templates

• Syllabus for RB Faculty
• RB PowerPoint  lecture slides
• RB degree program courses utilize the  content-driven  and  course schedule  home page templates.  Demo course 1 showcases the content-driven approach, and  demo course 2  illustrates  a course schedule table on the home page.

The above templates are newly improved and have all been created and reviewed for accessibility as part of the design process.

Digital Accessibility

Rice University aims to make digital information accessible to all, including those with disabilities.

The Rice University Digital Accessibility  site includes information and resources on improving digital access.

The UDOIT Cloud tool has been made available to all instructors at Rice and is in the menu of all JGS Canvas course templates. UDOIT simplifies the process of identifying and resolving accessibility issues throughout a Canvas course from a single, convenient location. Instead of conducting an accessibility check on each page, UDOIT scans the entire course and generates a comprehensive report of all accessibility issues. UDOIT offers explanations, learning resources and tools for reviewing and addressing these issues.

The following links provide accessibility information for software and services used at Rice Business:

• Canvas LMS accessibility statement
• Canvas accessibility standards
• Zoom accessibility features
• Panopto accessibility features
• Microsoft 365 accessibility statement
• Google Workspace user guide to accessibility
• Campus groups accessibility statement
• 12twenty accessibility statement

ADA Statement

Students who have a documented disability that may affect academic performance should:

1. Make sure this documentation is on file with the  Disability Resource Center  (Allen Center, Room 111 | adarice@rice.edu | 713-348-5841) to determine the accommodations they need.
2. Contact each of their instructors to discuss accommodation needs.

Rice Business is dedicated to making academic experiences inclusive and forward-thinking. We’re proud to support all our staff members through partnerships and professional affiliations with affinity organizations locally, regionally and nationally. These partnerships and professional affiliations provide opportunities for learning and development, as well as elevation of diversity, equity and inclusion among staff in higher education.