From the Dean

September in Houston has always been a time to catch up on campus and settle into the school year. This fall is different. We’re all wearing masks, staying at a safe distance from each other in and outside the classroom, and many of us are streaming in from our homes. However we describe it, the bottom line is that we have reinvented what school looks like. Our adaptation for safety is working very well and we hope it will put us on a quicker path to a return to the closeness we all cherish and enjoy. 

In preparation for reopening, we have asked a lot of our faculty, staff and students. And still, so much is new and foreign. Except the things that connect us. Conversations. Eye contact. Laughter. Listening and learning.

At the same time we’re managing the challenges of the pandemic, we have also rededicated ourselves to rising to the urgent call to put an end to racial injustice and social inequities. Our Task Force on Racial Equity and Social Justice has been charged with researching, evaluating and recommending actions to make Rice Business a part of the solution to systemic racism. We have a lot of work ahead of us and an exceptional group leading our efforts.

You’ll have a chance to read up on the activities of the task force and some of its members in this issue of the magazine. Please join me in thanking and supporting this superb group of friends and colleagues as they pursue this critical work. Know that we are committed to being a part of the long-term solution on campus and in the world.

The magazine is filled with other good reads — a rundown on the first month of classes, what a virtual Global Field Experience feels like, and 20 years of entrepreneurial adventures. While this issue of the magazine will again be online — on our newly redesigned, elegant and inviting website — we hope to bring you real live pages to turn come the spring. 

Happy fall,
Peter