A roundup of news from Rice Business and beyond
Congrats, new grads! Each December, Rice Business holds a graduation ceremony for MBA candidates whose degrees were conferred in August and December (though students may choose to walk in May instead). This year, 128 graduates were eligible to participate.
Princeton Review and
Entrepreneur magazine,
2020, 2021, 2022, 2023 & 2024
(top 10 over 10 years)
Financial Times, 2023
(based on global rankings)
Bloomberg
Businessweek,
2023
It’s part of our philosophy that experiential learning is a great way to acquire leadership skills. From roles in clubs to non-voting board seats, our students are in the trenches discovering where they shine. On-campus conferences (open to the public) are a big part of that informal leadership curriculum and give students the chance to build these events from the ground up, meet with industry leaders and directly contribute business knowledge to the wider Rice Business and Houston communities.
This February marked 24 years of the popular Women in Leadership Conference, which brings together women who are present and future business leaders to network and exchange ideas. Themed “Challenge. Disrupt. Elevate: Making Room for Women Everywhere,” the conference delivered keynotes from Tandra C. Perkins, SVP and chief digital and administrative officer at Phillips 66, and Kelly Rooney, senior vice president of Waste Management.
For 15 years, the Rice Energy Finance Summit has been promoting forward-looking discussions on the most relevant energy finance, investment and strategy topics affecting the global energy industry. It gathers senior executives, investors, advisors and policymakers to share their perspectives with fellow energy industry professionals, students, alumni, faculty and staff. This year’s theme, “Allocating Capital for Tomorrow: Energy Security and Transition,” brought keynotes Wil VanLoh, founder and CEO of Quantum Capital Group, and Lorenzo Simonelli, chairman and CEO of Baker Hughes.
There are lots of opportunities for students to learn by experience in planning and executing events. Along with the Rice Energy Finance Summit and Women in Leadership Conference, they include:
In addition to their research and teaching responsibilities, our faculty organize and host various academic events throughout the year.
The Lone Star Accounting Conference in February brought together accounting professionals and academics to discuss the latest research and industry trends, featuring Ph.D. students and faculty presentations. This past fall, our finance faculty also sponsored the Lone Star Finance Conference.
In March, faculty hosted the 14th annual Rice Customer-Based Strategy Symposium. This event features cutting-edge research, industry insights and discussions with top executives on customer-based strategies, strategy planning and implementation.
The newest faculty forward event is the Dean’s Distinguished Visiting Fellow Program, also held in February. The inaugural fellow, Nancy Rothbard, the David Pottruck Professor of Management and deputy dean at Wharton, spoke about her research and spent a week with Rice Business faculty. The fellow program aims to promote high-quality and high-impact research and contribute to the growing academic community at Rice Business. The visiting faculty can conduct research seminars, professional development workshops or present other relevant topics to aid junior faculty and Ph.D. student development.
