Asha and Farid Virani Hall: A Place for Possibilities

Nearly 40 years before their names appeared on Rice Business’ newest building, Dr. Asha Virani and Farid Virani were two 19-year-olds sharing desserts and imagining a future neither could yet see.

Asha was a student living at Baker College. Farid had recently arrived in the United States and worked at a restaurant across the street from campus. When his shift ended, he would meet her on campus and bring her the dessert of the day. They would sit together and talk and, as Asha recalled, “like 19-year-olds dream, just dream.”

On Sept. 10, 2026, the couple stood together again at Rice — this time to celebrate the dedication of Asha and Farid Virani Hall.

“Neither one of us could have ever imagined that one day we would stand here together at the opening of Virani Hall,” Asha said. “We know that we did not arrive at this moment on our own.” She spoke of the prayers, love, encouragement and grace that carried them there, and of the possibilities a life can hold before anyone can imagine them.

“We want this place to belong to everybody who walks through these doors,” Farid said. For the Viranis, a business education is about more than professional success. It is about developing thoughtful, curious leaders with integrity — people who understand that success brings responsibility to others.

That belief inspired support for Rice’s Virani Undergraduate School of Business. It now takes shape in a building designed to bring the Rice community together and to build meaningful connections.

“At the end of the day, the building is all about the people who come in, the friendships that develop, the ideas that are generated and the opportunities that come about,” Farid said.

Interim Dean Jeff Fleming has already seen that vision come to life. “People are literally everywhere, which has been a culture change for us,” he said. “The best way to describe the building’s impact on our community is that it’s substantially elevated the entire vibe of Rice Business.”

Rice President Reginald DesRoches called the building an inflection point for Rice Business and the university. He envisioned students using business to turn ideas into impact across engineering, science, the humanities, social sciences and the arts — and bringing judgment, creativity, ethics and an understanding of people to challenges in health, energy and sustainability.

During a recent visit, architect Stephen Cassell watched students attend classes, gather for events and make personal connections. One undergraduate told him she appreciated how the building placed the new and old in conversation — exactly the balance its designers hoped to create between Rice Business’ past and future.

Asha concluded the auspicious occasion with a blessing: that all would belong there; that curiosity and wonder would flourish; that bold ideas would be met with courage and humility; and that those who learn there would use their gifts “in service of something greater than themselves.”

A Blessing for Virani Hall By Asha Virani

May this place be a place where all belong.

May curiosity and wonder flourish.

May bold ideas be met with courage and humility.

May all who learn here use their knowledge, their imagination and the unique gifts with which they have been endowed by the Creator in service of something greater than themselves.

May Virani Hall — and all those whose lives unfold within it — be blessed.