1990

In July, Rice hosts the leaders of the seven largest industrialized democracies and the representative of the European Economic Community during the annual Economic Summit of Industrialized Nations. Leaders in attendance are Italian prime minister Giulio Andreotti, United States president George Bush, Economic Community president Jacques Delors, Japanese prime minister Toshiki Kaifu, West German chancellor Helmut Kohl, French president François Mitterand, Canadian prime minister Brian Mulroney, and British prime minister Margaret Thatcher.

1991

Rice again wins the College Bowl. Team members are Raymund Eich '93, Paul Holser '92, Brian Moore '92, Timothy Pulju '94, and John Skelton '93.

1991

On May 19, Rice celebrates the centennial of the filing of its charter with the state of Texas. Symposia, lectures, tours, and exhibits mark the occasion.

1991

A building for biosciences and bioengineering—George R. Brown Hall, named for the longtime chair of the Rice board—and a building for the Shepherd School of Music—Alice Pratt Brown Hall, named for Brown's wife—are completed.

1991

Rice is named the best buy in American higher education by Money magazine in the September issue.

1992

Rice holds a "Summit of the Minds," featuring speakers such as Robert Wilson, Rice's Nobel laureate in physics.

1992

George Rupp announces his resignation as president of Rice to pursue other opportunities, though he remains in office until June 30, 1993. He later becomes president of Columbia University.

1993

The James A. Baker III Institute for Public Policy is founded in the name of the 61st U.S. secretary of state and grandson of Captain James A. Baker.

1993

Economist S. Malcolm Gillis is inaugurated as the sixth president of Rice on October 30. He comes to Rice from Duke University, where he served as dean of the graduate school, vice provost for academic affairs, and then dean of the Faculty of Arts and Sciences. He pays homage to Rice's traditions and academic excellence, but he also emphasizes the diverse ways Rice needs to respond to a changing world. These changes include investing in efforts to internationalize Rice, concentrating on new undertakings in science and engineering, providing greater responsiveness to the community, enhancing the quality and value of education and scholarship at Rice, strengthening the faculty, and enlarging Fondren Library. To achieve these aims, he vigorously pushes ahead a number of initiatives, such as the creation of new interdisciplinary institutes and centers and the construction of buildings to house them and renewal of fund-raising efforts.

1993

Former president Jimmy Carter delivers the commencement address.

1994

Groundbreaking for the James A. Baker III Institute for Public Policy takes place. Four United States presidents deliver remarks: Gerald Ford and George Bush, speaking in person, and Jimmy Carter and Ronald Reagan, speaking via videotaped messages.

1994

Rice defeats Texas in football after 29 straight years of losing to the Longhorns. The score is 19-17.

1994

The women's cross-country team wins the Southwest Conference title.

1995

The Baker Institute Inaugural Annual Conference draws dignitaries from across the nation and the world to explore foreign policy challenges. Distinguished national and international statesmen, scholars, and journalists, including General Colin Powell, participate November 13-14.

1995

An angry student sets fire to Willy's Pub, largely destroying the pub but not causing major damage to the Student Center.

1995

The baseball team advances to its first-ever NCAA regional tournament with a school record of 43-19 and ends in a runner-up finish at the NCAA South Regional behind Cal State—Fullerton.

1996

The Southwest Conference disbands; Rice joins the Western Athletic Conference.

1996

Professors Robert Curl and Richard Smalley win the Nobel Prize in Chemistry for their discovery of buckminsterfullerene in 1985.

1996

Ike Sanders, the last surviving member of Rice's first class of students, dies.

1996

Maryana Iskander is awarded a Rhodes Scholarship.

1996

The baseball team ends the season with a 42-23 record, winning the final SWC title and taking second to Wichita State in the NCAA Midwest Regionals.

1996

Anne and Charles Duncan Hall is dedicated in the names of a longtime chair of the Rice board and his wife. It will house interdisciplinary programs in computational engineering and the Departments of Computer Science, Computational and Applied Mathematics, Electrical and Computer Engineering, and Statistics.

1996

Two hundred students, alumni, faculty, and staff attend the first Rice Woman's Conference since 1963.

1996

U.S. attorney general Janet Reno and Republican vice presidential candidate Jack Kemp speak at the second annual conference of the James A. Baker III Institute for Public Policy, November 12-13.

1997

Shepherd School of Music cello professor Paul Katz wins two Grammy Awards—Best Chamber Music Recording and Best Recorded Contemporary Composition—for his work with the Cleveland Quartet.

1997

James A. Baker III Hall, the new home of the Baker Institute, the School of Social Sciences, and the Departments of Political Science and Economics, is dedicated. Former president George Bush, current U.S. Secretary of state Madeleine Albright, who delivered her remarks in a videotaped message, and former Soviet Union president Mikhail Gorbachev speak to more than 6,000 conference attendees. Joining in the program are former U.S. secretaries of state James A. Baker, III; Warren Christopher; and Henry Kissinger and CNN news anchor Bernard Shaw, who moderated a panel discussion.

1997

Edythe Bates Old Grand Organ and Recital Hall, named for a musician, musical director, and friend of Rice, is dedicated in Alice Pratt Brown Hall. Its 75-stop, manual-tracker Fisk—Rosales Opus 109-21 organ has 4,493 pipes.

1997

Fund-raising campaigns for computational engineering and the James A. Baker III Institute for Public Policy successfully complete their goals by raising a total of $92 million.

1997

Rice wins the WAC baseball championship and the NCAA regional, compiling a 47-14 record, and advances to the College World Series. Although the team loses its second game, fans are elated, and hopes are high for next year's team.

1997

The District Court of Harris Country approves Rice's request to expand the Board of Governors and to grant all members voting privileges. The new board, which will be allowed up to 25 members, will henceforth be called the Board of Trustees.

1997

Lisa McCormick is awarded a Rhodes Scholarship.

1998

Dell Butcher Hall, named in honor of a former chair of the Rice board, is dedicated in April. It is the new home of the Center for Nanoscale Technology and the Department of Chemistry.

1998

Rice announces plans to rebuild Wiess College and to build a ninth college, Marian and Speros P. Martel College, named for a Houston businessman and his wife, whose foundation has a tradition of philanthropy to the university. The renovated and new college will allow 83 percent of undergraduate students to live on campus.

1998

Groundbreaking ceremonies are held in December for the new Humanities Building. The building will house the offices of the dean of humanities; the Departments of History, Religious studies, and Philosophy; and the offices of the Center for the Study of Cultures and the Study of Women and Gender program.

1998

The new practice gymnasium is completed adjacent to the old gym.

1998

Fondren Library becomes the first library in the nation to enter into a partnership with the United States Patent Office and Trademark Office, allowing it to function as a virtual patent office.

1998

Bobak Robert Azamian is awarded a Rhodes Scholarship.

1998

Rice establishes a scholarship in honor of James Byrd Jr., a hate-crime victim murdered in Jasper, Texas, to recognize students who demonstrate an ability to build bridges across cultural and racial divides.

1998

Rice is cited in the September U.S. News & World Report as having the least debt per graduate of private universities. Rice is also voted among the best college values in the nation. Rice begins to cap undergraduate student loan debt to ensure that students do not incur onerous debt in getting an education.

1998

The Jesse H. Jones School of Management's (formerly Jones School of Administration) finance and quantitative skills programs are ranked in the top 10 by the 1998 Time Magazine/Princeton Review.

1998

Rice undergraduates win 27 National Science Foundation Fellowships—the most in the university's history—placing Rice first in the nation in the percentage of students who received this honor.

1998

The faculty approve a new foreign language requirement—for the first time, competency in a foreign language is required for graduation.

1998

Rice enters into a memorandum of understanding with the free Hanseatic City of Bremen to collaborate in the establishment of a new private research university in Germany.

1998

Rice initiates a new undergraduate degree program in bioengineering.

1999

In October, former president of South Africa, Nelson Mandela, speaks in Autry Court before a packed crowd.

1999

Rice enrollment stands at approximately 2,750 undergraduate students and 1,550 graduate and professional students. As of this year, Rice has conferred 30,627 undergraduate and 13,580 graduate and professional degrees.

1999

For the last 10 straight years, Rice has had the highest percentage of National Merit Scholars in its entering class of any American university—this year, 27%.

1999

In March, Hispanic magazine rates Rice fourth in the nation among schools that have demonstrated a commitment to diversity. In August, Kiplinger's Personal Finance Magazine names Rice the best value among the nation's 1,600 private universities.

1999

Rice creates the Center for Neuroscience, a broad-based program that draws on the resources of five schools at Rice as well as the Neuroscience Division of Baylor College of Medicine, to establish a new, interdisciplinary graduate program in the neurosciences. The Rice Graduate Council approves 10 course in neuroscience to begin in fall 1999.

1999

Rice Owls baseball ranks #1 in the nation during more than eight weeks of regular season play. Following a dozen wins in a row and a best-ever season record of 59-15,the team makes its second trip to the College World Series, where it plays three games.

1999

Construction of Reckling Park, Rice's new baseball stadium, begins in May. It is named for donors T. R. and Isla C. Reckling.

1999

Groundbreaking for the new Wiess College is on October 5.

1999

The new graduate student housing complex in unveiled. The 112-unit complex sits on 2.7 acres and is within walking distance of campus.