Rice Business gala honors 50 years of empowering leaders, celebrates future growth

In a dazzling celebration of five decades of innovation and achievement, the Jesse H. Jones Graduate School of Business at Rice University held a gala Sept. 26, uniting board members, faculty, staff, alumni and community partners. The event celebrated 50 years of growth and looked ahead to the future, including plans for a new 112,000-square-foot building to accommodate significant population and program expansion over the past decade. The school has increased faculty by 41% to support its new programs and growing student enrollment from a new undergraduate business major, an increased cohort to the Full-time MBA program as well as the MBA@Rice and Hybrid MBA, both of which have multiple on-campus residentials each year.

“This school has come a long way since it opened,” said Rice President Reginald DesRoches in his remarks. “The graduate program continues to garner great recognition and is an increasingly important program for numerous industries in the Houston community. It also now produces more MBAs than any other program in Texas. The undergraduate business degree, launched just a few years ago, is rapidly becoming one of the most widely sought-after majors on campus.”

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Established in 1974 with a significant gift from Houston Endowment Inc., founded by Jesse Holman Jones and his wife, Rice Business began as a small school with two degree options and a handful of passionate faculty. It has since expanded its offerings to include executive education, professional MBAs, undergraduate degrees and doctorate programs. The school’s mission to focus on creating a community that inspires leadership and innovation has resulted in top national and international rankings.

“Since its founding, the Jones School has stood as a beacon of excellence, embodying the spirit of innovation, collaboration and intellectual rigor that defines Rice,” DesRoches said. “It has been instrumental in preparing generations of leaders to tackle the complex challenges of the business world with integrity, insight and ingenuity. The school’s commitment to producing socially conscious leaders has reverberated across industries, and I couldn’t be prouder of the legacy it continues to build.

“At the heart of this success is the outstanding faculty at the Jones School. These scholars are not only educators; they are thought leaders whose research and scholarship have influenced business practices and policies on a global scale. Their work pushes the boundaries of knowledge, shaping how we think about everything from entrepreneurship and finance to leadership and corporate responsibility. The dedication and impact of our faculty are fundamental to the reputation and success of this institution.”

The gala featured live entertainment, cocktails and hors d’oeuvres in the Jamail Plaza that features an iconic fountain with signage that showcased the history of the school in detail for guests. A surprise appearance by state Rep. Ann Johnson wowed the audience with a state of Texas proclamation congratulating the school on its success.

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To accommodate its continued growth, Rice Business’ building expansion will feature state-of-the-art classrooms, modern office spaces and vibrant amenities such as dining areas, open gathering spaces and facilities for events like the Rice Business Plan Competition, Rice Energy Finance Summit and the Women in Leadership Conference. The new building will seamlessly integrate with McNair Hall — the current home of Rice Business — enhancing the campus environment and continuing to cultivate a collaborative culture that addresses real-world issues.

“Our city, state, nation and world face complex challenges in energy and sustainability, health and health care, urban thriving and responsible artificial intelligence,” said Amy Dittmar, Howard R. Hughes Provost and executive vice president for academic affairs who also serves as professor of finance and economics. “Rice Business faculty and graduates are developing multifaceted solutions to these issues as well as laying the groundwork to solve problems that we haven’t even thought of yet.

“This level of problem-solving requires an entrepreneurial mindset, so it’s a good thing the Jones School of Business has had the No.1 graduate entrepreneurship program in the Princeton Review and Entrepreneurship Magazine for five consecutive years and top MBA programs for finance and consulting. Challenges of the scale we’re facing require substantial capital and a strategic, coordinated approach.”

Recent business faculty research highlights important and timely topics such as the reduction of plastic waste, the role of methane emissions in curbing climate change, inefficiency of discrimination, unconventional ways to improve economic mobility, the effectiveness of methods to slow teen vaping and optimizing resources to enhance public education. It’s not just the faculty that produces research — in only a few years since the undergraduate major launched, Rice Business students are impressively applying cutting-edge applications of AI and machine learning in the world of business, Dittmar said.

“I can’t imagine a better school or a better university to build the leaders who will tackle those issues head on,” said Rice Business Dean Peter Rodriguez. “These challenges must be met by critical thinkers trained by world-class researchers and supported by world-class research networks. Now this is the good news. We’ve been sending those kinds of graduates out into the world for five decades, and we’ve been doing so with the guidance of incredible faculty who are top-tier researchers and gifted teachers.”

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Since joining in 2016, Rodriguez has launched four new programs — MBA@Rice, a hybrid MBA, an entrepreneurship minor and an undergraduate business major — addressing the complexities of the modern business landscape. The undergraduate business major, which graduated its first class in May, quickly became one of the most popular majors on campus. Rodriguez, who is also a professor of strategic management, teaches MBA classes on leadership and has instilled the core values of being attentive, responsive and kind as central to the culture of Rice Business.

“Our commitment to entrepreneurship and innovation and to leading the energy transition means that Rice Business graduates and faculty will have seats at the table with the world’s leading organizations as they create innovative solutions to complicated problems,” he said. “But what makes me the most proud is that our graduates and faculty will be at those tables with the degrees that taught them that rigorous thinking, open dialogue, inclusivity and global perspectives are what really matter.”

As dean of Rice Business, Rodriguez also has doubled MBA enrollment, grown tenure-track faculty by more than 35%, renovated McNair Hall, including a new public art project, and helped the Rice Business community survive Hurricane Harvey and grow stronger during the COVID-19 pandemic. He also ushered in a new Office of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion, a relationship with the Consortium for Graduate Studies in Management and a rise in underrepresented minority students. He established an operations faculty group, led the successful and growing entrepreneurship initiatives at Rice and built into the curriculum a global field experience for every student.

“I envision that 50 years from now, Rice’s Jones School leadership, alumni and faculty will be standing in what I am sure will still be a beautiful but perhaps not so ‘new’ building celebrating the historic and groundbreaking accomplishments our faculty and students are working toward today at the frontier of business,” Dittmar said.