Houston Chronicle LogoHearst Newspapers Logo

In 18 years, Rice University president transformed the campus while preserving its culture

By , Staff writerUpdated
A decorative owl is seen in the office of David Leebron, the outgoing president of Rice University, on Tuesday, May 24, 2022, at Rice University in Houston.

A decorative owl is seen in the office of David Leebron, the outgoing president of Rice University, on Tuesday, May 24, 2022, at Rice University in Houston.

Jon Shapley, Houston Chronicle / Staff photographer

David Leebron arrived in Houston with grand plans for Rice University. The native northeasterner talked of increasing enrollment at the small private school, and devoted alumni worried his presidential agenda might change the culture of a place known for being “behind the hedges” on Main Street — insulated, happy and distinctively Rice.

Eighteen years later, Rice is still Rice. But Leebron, who ends his tenure this month, dramatically expanded the reach of the university. While the campus remains secluded, university and local leaders said he pushed Rice “beyond the hedges” with numerous city and international partnerships, all while preserving a distinctive undergraduate experience and cementing the school’s standing in higher education.

“If you look at the ways Rice has changed, one of them is we have no doubt who we are,,” said Leebron, 67.

Advertisement

Article continues below this ad

In late May, Leebron had not yet packed his office, which sits on a corner of campus above Rice’s canopied oak trees. His space is a testament to a love of the university, with owls — Lego, wooden and otherwise — perched on the shelves and walls.

Beneath some of those birds, he sat on his office couch and reminisced about the time he has spent at the tier-one research institution nestled between the Texas Medical Center and the Museum District. It wasn’t without some regret, he said, but it ended without major controversy.

Image 1 of 2
Image 2 of 2
A decorative owl made from Lego blocks is seen in the office of David Leebron, the outgoing president of Rice University, on Tuesday, May 24, 2022, at Rice University in Houston. Leebron has served in the role since 2004.

Leebron’s final years at Rice came during a tumultuous time — the COVID-19 pandemic disrupted campuses all over the country and Rice was pushed to come to terms with its origins.

Advertisement

Article continues below this ad

Leebron responded to COVID by moving quickly to online instruction in spring 2020 and investing in large outdoor tents for socially distanced instruction in the fall. The school implemented widespread surveillance testing and kept coronavirus cases low on campus until the Omicron variant’s spread late last year.

All the while, historians were investigating the murky beginnings of the university. A task force discovered that founder William Marsh Rice’s wealth was not as distanced from slavery as previously believed. The board of trustees accepted plans to add historical context and relocate his statue from the center of Rice’s main courtyard to a location on its perimeter - and despite some criticism, Leebron said he felt the change properly reflects the history of the school.

Massive growth will still be the outgoing president’s hallmark, his colleagues said. Full-time enrollment sat at 7,800 undergraduates and graduates in 2021; it was 4,700 students in 2004, when he took office. Research dollars more than doubled, hitting $181.9 million in 2021. And Leebron oversaw $1.8 billion in physical construction to the campus, he said.

David Leebron, the outgoing president of Rice University, talks about his tenure at the institution Tuesday, May 24, 2022, at Rice University in Houston. Leebron has served as the president of the university since 2004.

David Leebron, the outgoing president of Rice University, talks about his tenure at the institution Tuesday, May 24, 2022, at Rice University in Houston. Leebron has served as the president of the university since 2004.

Jon Shapley, Houston Chronicle / Staff photographer

Rice grew more diverse, increasing its Black, Asian and Hispanic student populations. It also became more affordable for many students, with new policies that make need-based financial aid loan-free from the university. The school also provides full-tuition grants or scholarships for undergraduates whose families earn below $140,000 a year.

Advertisement

Article continues below this ad

“President Leebron has been, I would argue, the most consequential figure in Rice history since (first president) Edgar Odell Lovett,” said Annise Parker, Rice alumna and former Houston mayor. “He has transformed the campus, he has transformed and increased the student body, and he has shifted the mindset … to how can we take the work we’re doing inside the hedges and make it more relevant and impactful to the community?”

An unconventional pick

A search committee recruited Leebron to Rice in 2003, and in some ways, the lawyer from Philadelphia was an unconventional pick, said Kevin Kirby, vice president for Administration. Rice didn’t - and still doesn’t - have a law school.

Trustees were drawn to his leadership as dean of Columbia Law School, but also to his intellect and commitment to excellence, said Jim Crownover, leader of the presidential search committee.

“I didn’t really understand how effective an external representative he would be,” said Crownover, who became the chairman of the Rice Board of Trustees in 2005. “He was also internally a great leader.”

Advertisement

Article continues below this ad

Leebron came to Rice in 2004 as its seventh president. He issued a strategic plan in 2005 and in that and a second strategic plan years later, major goals involved engaging more directly with Houston and the world.

Parker and others said Leebron followed through. In 2007, he created the “Passport to Houston” program, which provides students unlimited access to certain Houston museums and the zoo. It also gave them a free METRO card for transport, including the light rail.

The school invested in the medical field through the BioSciences Research Collaborative with the Texas Medical Center, and it founded the Kinder Institute for Urban Research, which conducts the annual Houston Area Survey and other studies that delve into Houston’s urban issues.

David Leebron, the outgoing president of Rice University, talks about his tenure at the institution Tuesday, May 24, 2022, at Rice University in Houston. Leebron has served as the president of the university since 2004.

David Leebron, the outgoing president of Rice University, talks about his tenure at the institution Tuesday, May 24, 2022, at Rice University in Houston. Leebron has served as the president of the university since 2004.

Jon Shapley, Houston Chronicle / Staff photographer

When Amazon was looking for a new headquarters, Leebron said he offered up the empty former Sears building in midtown, owned by Rice. Houston’s bid failed, but Rice kept working with the city to build a $100 million tech hub called the Ion.

Advertisement

Article continues below this ad

Other forays brought Rice further into the global sphere, Leebron said. New educational centers and research partnerships have strengthened Rice’s relationships with countries in Asia and Latin America, he said, and Rice committed itself to recruiting international students.

Twelve percent of Rice undergraduates come from other countries, the president said in an April town hall. And of the roughly 2.5 million people enrolled in online courses through Rice, more than 56 percent of them logged in from outside of the U.S.

Rice continued to ramp up the size of its student body while keeping acceptance rates competitive; more than 9,000 students are expected to enroll by 2025, the university estimates.

Alumni such as Parker and former Harris County Judge Ed Emmett said they initially worried what those changes might have meant for Rice’s on-campus culture, where every undergraduate student belongs to a distinct residential college with its own traditions. But during Leebron’s 18 years, he added two residential colleges. A third is underway.

“I think as people saw, we could grow and maintain our culture,” Leebron said. “We could reach out more into the city and people still could feel that the campus was kind of a special and safe place for them.”

Transforming the campus

Rice University took new shape under Leebron, with public art and buildings frequently under construction.

He appreciates art on a personal level (back at his office, the Mona Lisa peeked out of his loafers, on his socks), and in the past 18 years, he transferred that onto Rice’s landscape. Leebron created a program in 2008 that resulted in dozens of major pieces of public art on campus - including the James Turrell “Twilight Epiphany” Skyspace exhibit.

Leebron’s presidency oversaw the creation of several new arts buildings, including the Moody Center for the Arts, the new Brockman Hall for Opera and the upcoming Sarofim Hall for Visual and Dramatic Arts.

He didn’t accomplish everything he set out to do. He never got around to creating a law school. And in 2010, talks of a high-profile merger between Rice University and Baylor College of Medicine shut down. The decision to sell the popular student-run radio station, KTRU, drew protests.

But colleagues say his legacy is secure.

David Leebron, the outgoing president of Rice University, smiles as he bids farewell to two reporters Tuesday, May 24, 2022, at Rice University in Houston. Leebron has served as president of the university since 2004.

David Leebron, the outgoing president of Rice University, smiles as he bids farewell to two reporters Tuesday, May 24, 2022, at Rice University in Houston. Leebron has served as president of the university since 2004.

Jon Shapley, Houston Chronicle / Staff photographer

“There’s so many things you can describe about his 18 years, but ultimately people will be recognizing the things he did,” said Rice Board of Trustees Chairman Robert Ladd.

The university’s endowment grew to $8.1 billion by the end of the 2021 fiscal year, according to the institution. Since 2004, Leebron launched two major fundraising campaigns, with the latest already amassing more than half of its $2 billion goal.

Research awards poured in as well, with $181.9 million and 921 awards received in 2021, the university administration reported. That’s an increase from $73.9 million and 596 awards in 2004.

Rice is currently ranked No. 17 in the US News and World Report.

Campus culture

Students at Rice are known for being happy and collegial: The Princeton Review in 2020 ranked the Owls the highest among any campus for quality of life and for an assessment of interactions between races and classes.

Leebron his wife, Y. Ping Sun, set the tone. They are known for their strolls on the 300-acre campus, where they stop and converse with the student population. The “First Couple” is famous on campus for hosting regular events at the Rice President’s House, where they live.

Sun was instrumental in Leebron’s decision for the pair to move to Houston, he said. Also a lawyer, Sun serves on a number of boards around the city.

Aaron Pathak, a senior and president of Jones College, said he often ran into Leebron himself.

David Leebron, the outgoing president of Rice University, wears socks with the likeness of the “Mona Lisa,” on Tuesday, May 24, 2022, at Rice University in Houston.

David Leebron, the outgoing president of Rice University, wears socks with the likeness of the “Mona Lisa,” on Tuesday, May 24, 2022, at Rice University in Houston.

Jon Shapley, Houston Chronicle / Staff photographer

“He loves talking to students, which truly made him stand out,” Pathak said.

While student movements sometimes flared up over race or sexual assault, those issues usually resolved through cross-campus and personal conversations, Leebron said. One concerned a Rice graduate who said her assailant was allowed to graduate without serving a suspension or significant disciplinary action, and the university formally apologized in 2019.

Leebron used his capacity for direct engagement to steer the university through Harvey, COVID and two financial meltdowns, said Kathy Collins, Rice’s vice president for Finance. He also made a decision early on not to lay anyone off during the pandemic.

“He was inclusive in terms of reaching out and seeking input from a range of people affiliated with Rice,” she said. “I’ll also remember him for what I’ll call the tone from the top - the emphasis he put on values.”

Emmett, the former county judge, said he witnessed that firsthand as a fellow at the Baker Institute for Public Policy. Leebron listened to concerns, but in a time where many became frantic, he remained composed, he said.

Future plans

Leebron is staying in Houston.

He fell in love with the city and its people, he said, finding a culture here that he hasn’t seen elsewhere. That’s also part of why he stayed for 18 years — much longer than the average university president, whose tenure is just over 7 years, according to the American Council on Education.

He might get re-involved with Rice after a period of travel, but he said he will at least stay attuned to issues in higher education.

Some of those topics could play out at Rice under the next president, current provost Reginald DesRoches. Leebron and others agree: He is situated to handle them.

“When I came to Rice, Rice was a very simultaneously proud and successful institution, but also a bit insecure,” Kirby said. “There’s a confidence now... It’s palpable. That’s something you won’t see written about anywhere.”

samantha.ketterer@houstonchronicle.com

|Updated

Samantha Ketterer is a Houston Chronicle reporter covering higher education. She can be reached at samantha.ketterer@houstonchronicle.com.

Since joining the staff in 2018, Samantha has also covered criminal justice and the Harris County courthouse. She is a former reporting fellow for the Dallas Morning News' state bureau and a former city hall reporter for The Galveston County Daily News.

Samantha, who is from Houston's suburbs, graduated from the University of Texas at Austin and is a proud alumna of The Daily Texan.