Rice University’s RISE program has expanded its programming to serve sophomore and junior students in addition to incoming freshmen who attended a RISE pre-orientation seminar program in the summer.
RISE, which stands for responsibility, inclusion and student empowerment, held the RISENext Retreat Oct. 14 at Rice’s Moody Center for the Arts aimed at serving the sophomore and junior populations for the first time. Students from other affinity student organizations were also invited to participate.
RISE partnered with various offices on the Rice campus to lead sessions centered on best practices in students’ development and needs. The event featured a welcome speech from Alexander Byrd, vice provost for diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) at Rice, an upperclassmen student panel on navigating Rice, a Rice Wellbeing session focusing on wellness strategies, a viewing of the eclipse and more. The keynote speaker for the retreat was Akilah Mance, a Rice alumna and general counsel for the Houston Forensic Science Center.
“We hope to expand and develop the retreat even more next year,” said Brittany Robertson, associate director of DEI for undergraduate programs and designer of the RISENext Retreat. “Sophomore year is often referred to as the ‘forgotten year,’ so we wanted to design an experience that would provide students with support during a pivotal time in their undergraduate experience.
“The goal was to allow these students to reconnect with one another and the DEI team as well as various campus partners and to refresh and gain key knowledge and resources to make decisions around their personal and academic success.”
The RISE program launched in 2021, aiming to familiarize incoming freshmen interested in exploring questions of racial justice, equity and urban life with both Rice and Houston. Students receive support and programming throughout the year, and freshman students take a course in the fall: COLL 222: Houston: Race, Place, Power — taught by Byrd and Luziris Pineda Turi, associate vice provost of DEI.
To learn more visit https://dei.rice.edu/initiatives.
