Our Vision

Dear Rice Community,

Rice University President Reginald DesRoches

It is my greatest professional honor to lead our university forward. Our vision for the future is a courageous view of what can and must be for Rice. We will work to take the very best of our university forward, fiercely protecting what makes us special, and evolving it to meet the future needs of our students, faculty and staff, community, and world.

Leveraging one of the most comprehensive and inclusive processes to build our plan, I am proud of the many voices who came together in a way that only Rice can. We heard big ideas and dreams; we heard challenges to what the future might require; we heard about the uniqueness of our faculty and approach to teaching and research; we heard visions of how a university of our scale is primed to impact not only our greater community but society as a whole. Most of all, we heard what we already knew – that Rice is different, and we must protect that uniqueness. Our strategic plan lays out a guide for the next 10 years and will dynamically shift based on the needs of our university. It will be reviewed over time, including at the five-year mark.

We understand the magnitude of our vision and the moment. We accept that this is a vision that when achieved will forever change the future. We also understand that this is unique to us – in fact, no other university is poised to accomplish what we have ahead. Only Rice.

We are committing to unparalleled excellence as we work to become the premier university in the world for teaching and research. We won’t do it like any other institution. We will do it with humanity for the good of humankind. We will do it on a personalized scale as only Rice can. This is at the heart of our ambitious vision, and we will do it with personalized scale for global impact.

Thank you for believing in Rice and knowing that our best days are ahead. This is our unique moment. It is us. And, it is momentous.

Reginald DesRoches President, Rice University

A vision transforms an organization.
It provides an aspiration of what can be.

It is a goal of the highest order and the reason for aligning our talent, resources, and priorities as an organization.

Our vision is aspirational, yet attainable, and describes the moment where we will be as an institution in 10 years.

Rice will be the world’s premier teaching and research university, delivering unparalleled personalized education and propelling breakthrough discovery to transform lives and better humanity.

Building Rice's future

A 15-member strategic planning committee of faculty, staff, students, and alumni was selected to provide insight and gather diverse perspectives from their areas of expertise. The committee — along with Rice’s deans and vice presidents — is leading the planning process. The broader Rice community will have ample opportunity to lend their voices to the plan.

Rice University Provost Amy Dittmar is chair of the committee.

Amy Dittmar

Bonnie Bartel

Lucy Bozinov

April Cole

James Dunham

Prashant Kale

Elizabeth Petrick

Renata Ramos

Raúl Rincón Garcia

Eduardo Salas

Troy Schaum

David Vassar

Rafael Verduzco

Fay Yarbrough

Michael B. Yuen

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Behind the process

Rice President Reginald DesRoches stated in his inaugural address that his vision for the university is that Rice be a premier research university with much greater visibility and with graduate programs of the same distinction as the university's undergraduate program, all while maintaining Rice's commitment to excellence in undergraduate education and the values of diversity, equity and inclusion.

  1. Organize planning process and leadership

    The journey for this new plan began more than a year ago with the culmination of the University’s previous long-term strategic plan. The process has been thorough, with research gathered from a wide range of stakeholders. This plan comes directly from our community.

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  2. Gather stakeholder feedback

    Between January and April, 32 focus groups were held convened around a specific topic, including research, infrastructure, DEI and the Rice experience.

  3. Draft, refine, then finalize the plan

  4. Develop implementation plan

  5. Official Launch

Momentous: Personalized Scale for Global Impact is Rice’s strategic plan. It is a guide for the next 10 years and will dynamically shift based on the needs of our university.