From the Editor
Welcome to Rice Business magazine — here are 8 quick takeaways from this issue:
- Our MBAs didn’t just consult in Colombia — they soaked up Medellín’s history and arts scene at the striking Rafael Uribe Uribe Palace of Culture, a reminder that business is always rooted in people and place.
- Business is booming: Undergraduate enrollments keep climbing, the Virani Undergraduate School of Business rests on decades of graduate-school excellence, and a new 112,000-square-foot building for undergrads and grad students is rising to match the momentum.
- Peek inside Professor James Weston’s office: ring light, tea kettle, a photo of Sean Connery — and #2 pencils lodged in the ceiling tiles. Also, we have to mention his side hustle pressing limited-edition vinyl for Snoop Dogg, Wu-Tang Clan and Stevie Wonder.
- Generative AI can boost workplace creativity — if you pair it with metacognitive habits like planning, monitoring and adapting. Tools matter; how you think while using them matters more.
- Behind the curtain of the Rice Business Plan Competition: 550 applicants, 42 teams, 400 judges — and one team walking away with more than $900,000, the second-largest amount awarded to a single team in competition history.
- Business minds in medicine: How our MD/MBAs are applying their business skills — and AI — to help solve healthcare challenges.
- Turns out it’s never too late to get your MBA. Rodney Kroll ’22 shares his story on getting his degree after an already-successful career.
- Missing your daily dose of Professor Stephen Zeff? Check out his great photos on the last page.
Have a story idea to share? Write to me at maureen.harmon@rice.edu.
Happy reading!
— Maureen
Contributors
We asked, “What do you do when you're not working?”
Dan Morrell
I coach my two children’s youth sports teams and play fundamentally sound — though not aesthetically pleasing — pick-up basketball.
Weezie Mackey
In between assignments, I‘m getting my hands dirty in the garden, tackling house renovation projects and training two puppies.
Helen Huneycutt
Outside of work, I love to bake (everything but cookies, which are my nemeses), spend time outdoors and act as mediator between our two cats and the houseplants.
Dean
Peter Rodriguez
Chief Marketing Officer and Assistant Dean of Marketing and Communication
Kathleen Harrington Clark
Editor-in-Chief
Maureen Harmon
Magazine Contributors
Helen Huneycutt
Annie McDonald
Scott Pett
Design Director
Bill Carson Design
Marketing
Kateri Benoit
Tessa Conrad
Tricia Delone
Helen Huneycutt
Dawn Kinsey
Michael Okullu
Kevin Palmer
Ananya Zachariah
Contributing Writers
Maureen Harmon
Helen Huneycutt
Weezie Mackey
Dan Morrell
Scott Pett
Proofreader
Jenny West Rozelle
Contributing Photographers
Tommy LaVergne
An Le
Annie McDonald
Printing
RRD Houston
Online Magazine Developer
Tricia Delone