Bill Text: TX HR595 | 2011-2012 | 82nd Legislature | Enrolled
Bill Title: Recognizing March 3, 2011, as Rice University Day at the State Capitol.
Spectrum: Bipartisan Bill
Status: (Passed) 2011-03-16 - Reported enrolled [HR595 Detail]
Download: Texas-2011-HR595-Enrolled.html
H.R. No. 595 |
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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 | ||