|
|
|
R E S O L U T I O N
|
|
WHEREAS, A number of proud Texans are visiting Austin on |
|
March 3, 2011, to celebrate Rice University Day at the State |
|
Capitol; and |
|
WHEREAS, Founded in 1912 as William Marsh Rice Institute for |
|
the Advancement of Literature, Science and Art, Rice was the first |
|
private, nonsectarian university in Texas and the first institution |
|
of higher education in Houston; its first president, Edgar Odell |
|
Lovett, outlined an ambitious vision for a great research |
|
university, and the school's faculty, students, and alumni have |
|
succeeded in fulfilling his dream of excellence; and |
|
WHEREAS, Rice University has played a leading role in |
|
research in such fields as nanotechnology, cellular technology, |
|
bioinformatics, energy, the environment, and health, and it has |
|
helped shape the course of human space exploration; two |
|
distinguished alumni, Rice Board of Trustees chairman George |
|
R. Brown and former United States representative Albert Thomas, |
|
worked with then vice president Lyndon Johnson to make Houston the |
|
home of the Manned Spacecraft Center, now the Johnson Space Center; |
|
in 1963, Rice became the first university in the nation to create a |
|
dedicated space science department, and it has received research |
|
grants from NASA to launch a total of six Earth-orbiting |
|
satellites, which were named after the school mascot, Sammy the |
|
Owl; and |
|
WHEREAS, President John F. Kennedy made his famous address |
|
announcing the race to the moon at Rice University, and the very |
|
first lunar landing incorporated a scientific experiment built by |
|
Rice professor John Freeman; the Rice University flag raised on the |
|
surface of the moon remains there to this day; moreover, 14 |
|
astronauts have had "the Rice Stuff," among them the first female |
|
commander of the International Space Station; and |
|
WHEREAS, In 1985, the groundbreaking discovery of |
|
buckminsterfullerene, or "buckyballs," on the Rice campus, |
|
originated the field of fullerene chemistry and helped launch the |
|
field of nanotechnology; Rice professors Richard Smalley and Robert |
|
Curl earned the Nobel Prize in chemistry for their work, which is |
|
now leading to momentous breakthroughs in medicine, |
|
transportation, energy, the environment, defense, and many other |
|
endeavors; Rice University also counts among its noteworthy |
|
innovators Sidney Burrus, interim dean of the George R. Brown |
|
School of Engineering, who created signal-processing algorithms |
|
that have led to technological advances essential to cell phones, |
|
speech recognition, sonar and radar, sensor arrays, digital audio |
|
and video, seismic data gathering, biomedical systems, and many |
|
more digital tools and devices; and |
|
WHEREAS, The longest-serving lieutenant governor in Texas |
|
history, William P. Hobby, Jr., was a Rice graduate; his fellow |
|
alumni include such notables as Pulitzer Prize-winning author Larry |
|
McMurtry, Saint Arnold Brewing Company founders Brock Wagner and |
|
Kevin Bartol, and three key Texas Monthly magazine staff members,
|
|
founding editor Bill Broyles, Jr., longtime editor Gregory Curtis, |
|
and political analyst Paul Burka; and |
|
WHEREAS, Making its mark in the sports world as well, Rice |
|
University once owned Yankee Stadium, donated by a successful |
|
alumnus in 1962; John Heisman, the namesake of football's coveted |
|
trophy, coached the Rice Owls in the 1920s; more recently, the 2003 |
|
Owls baseball team made Rice the smallest university to win the NCAA |
|
Division I College World Series; and |
|
WHEREAS, Rice University is admired today as one of the |
|
nation's leading institutions of higher education; since U.S. News & |
|
World Report began ranking universities in 1983, Rice has been
|
|
rated among the top 20 every year; in addition, it is one of only |
|
three research universities in the Lone Star State to be a member of |
|
the elite Association of American Universities; and |
|
WHEREAS, For the past century, Rice University has |
|
contributed to the advancement of human knowledge, and the |
|
achievements of its faculty and alumni continue to resonate in |
|
Texas, the nation, and the world; now, therefore, be it |
|
RESOLVED, That the House of Representatives of the 82nd Texas |
|
Legislature hereby recognize March 3, 2011, as Rice University Day |
|
at the State Capitol and extend a warm welcome to all those from |
|
this august institution who are visiting here today; and, be it |
|
further |
|
RESOLVED, That an official copy of this resolution be |
|
prepared for Rice University as an expression of high regard by the |
|
Texas House of Representatives. |
|
|
S. Davis of Harris |
|
Hochberg |
|
|
|
______________________________ |
|
Speaker of the House |
|
|
I certify that H.R. No. 595 was adopted by the House on March |
|
3, 2011, by a non-record vote. |
|
|
|
______________________________ |
|
Chief Clerk of the House |
|