One hundred and nine years after its founding and 56 years after the first African American graduate, the prestigious Rice University has named its first African American president. How ironic that a university established by a white rich slave owner would now have at the head an African American from one of the poorest countries in our nation. Talk about progress and achieving the American dream.

The board of trustees at Rice University have enthusiastically name Reginald DesRoches as the educational institution's eighth president making him the first African American, foreign born, and engineer to be president in the school's history.

The university has an ugly history, like America's storied past, that is filled with racism. William "Willy" Rice, the founder of the university, was a slave owner who grew wealth while living in Texas. With his fortune, he established the university in 1912 with the provision to only serve white Texans only. His dream would be fulfilled until 1963 when Raymond Johnson became Rice's first Black student as a research associate in the math department. From then until now the university

has worked on their issues of diversity and inclusion.

“I am deeply honored to be named the next president of Rice University,” DesRoches said. “The past 4½ years at Rice have been among the most rewarding in my professional career and I look forward to building on the tradition of excellence established by President Leebron and those who served before him.”

Current President David Leebron believes DesRoches is what the university needs to support their bold campaign to take the university to new heights and achievements. DesRoches' hiring is not an affirmative action hiring but an act of him being the right guy for the job. After a nationwide search the board of trustees selected the internationally recognized structural engineer and earthquake resilience expert to succeed President David Leebron when he steps down. DesRoches comes as an internal hire, joining the Rice family in 2017 as the incoming dean of the engineering school. In this post, the school saw significant growth with enrollment, research programs, and college rankings. DesRoches was also responsible for establishing a collaborative research center in India with IIT-Kanpur.

From that position, DesRoches advance to become provost in 2020 where he took on the responsibility of leading the university more than 8,000 students and faculty. A task that proved most challenging over the past year when the way students learned had to be transitioned to remote learning. The university again saw more growth under DesRoches' helm with more research awards, centers and institutions, and community partnerships and programs with intuitions and organizations like the Texas Medical Center.

“Reggie DesRoches is an outstanding choice as Rice’s next president,” current President David Leebron said. “I have had the privilege of working closely with Reggie over the last 4½ years, first in his capacity of dean of engineering and then as provost, and observed firsthand his extraordinary leadership, values, thoughtfulness and ambition for Rice."

Many students, faculty and alum join with President Leebron in cheering the hiring of DesRoches.

"The appointment of Mr. DesRoches speaks volumes to the change and improvements the University is making to address diversity, equity and inclusion discrepancies over its 100 + year history. It is a major and visible step in the right direction that I hope will foster a brighter future for students like me for years to come," said April Frazier, Jones School Black Alum class of 2011.

"This speaks profoundly to the value Rice & Board of Trustees put towards DE&I and being a true Thought Leader in this space, not only in academia but in a city as diverse as Houston," said another alum of the class of 2011 business school.

DesRoches' vision for Rice's future includes building upon his past successes and advancing them on another level. He has a goal to grow the student body by 20% over the next five years and increase the diversity of students and staff. Outside of that little will be said until he officially is installed as president.

The push for diversity and inclusion was not a priority when Jonathan Chism was a student at Rice in the early 2000's. Earning B.A., M.A., and Ph.D. from the elite intuition, Chism said he had no prior knowledge of the school's history and even after finding out about it that he never felt like he didn't belong at Rice.

"Just like the United States, our history is littered with exclusion." He continued, "I think we just adjust and move."

As a three time Black alum from the classes of 2004, 2012, and 2014, Chism recalled how the statue of the founder set in the center of campus and students just accepted it and went on.

"It didn't create the type of alarm that it creates today," commented Chism.

The outrage throughout the country over such publicized cases like that of George Floyd has hit Rice's students and given them the desire to attempt to right the wrong of the past. The idea is not to run from the history but correct it for the future. This will take an ongoing education of the Rice's family and the center as a whole. During his Rice days, Chism added to the diversity of his school with his membership in the Black Students Association and being the founding president of the campus chapter's National Association for the Advancement of Color People.

"When I learned of the news I was floored and extremely proud that Rice is making this move. And it seems they are not just doing this for the purpose of diversity, which is important, but from what I have read the students, the faculty, the persons on the search team were all on one accord that he was the best person for the job at this time." Chism continued, "It is a sign of progress for the intuition, for the city and especially given Rice's stature so it is meaningful on multiple levels and so I proud as alum with BA but also as a former PhD student who is familiar with the academic job market and how tough that is I am proud on that level."

DesRoches is a Port-au-Prince, Haiti native who grew up in Queens, New York. Although neither of his parents had a college education, they instilled the importance of having in DesRoches and his siblings. He is a three time alum of the University of California at Berkeley with a Bachelor of Science in Mechanical Engineering, Master of Science in Civil Engineering, and Doctorate in Structural Engineering. The author of hundreds of articles and presenter of hundreds of presentations has a passion for the design of resilient infrastructure systems under extreme loads and the application of smart materials according to those who know him academically. He is a family with a wife and children. Others say that he is really a nice guy who is a bit shy. All the attention he is garnering over his new position is a bit overwhelming for him. He will have just about six months to get use to the spotlight as he will officially assume office on July 1, 2022.

Congratulations Dr. Reginald DesRoches from the Houston Style Magazine team.

The board of trustees at Rice University have enthusiastically name Reginald DesRoches as the educational institution's eighth president making him the first African American, foreign born, and engineer to be president in the school's history.

The university has an ugly history, like America's storied past, that is filled with racism. William "Willy" Rice, the founder of the university, was a slave owner who grew wealth while living in Texas. With his fortune, he established the university in 1912 with the provision to only serve white Texans only. His dream would be fulfilled until 1963 when Raymond Johnson became Rice's first Black student as a research associate in the math department. From then until now the university

has worked on their issues of diversity and inclusion.

“I am deeply honored to be named the next president of Rice University,” DesRoches said. “The past 4½ years at Rice have been among the most rewarding in my professional career and I look forward to building on the tradition of excellence established by President Leebron and those who served before him.”

Current President David Leebron believes DesRoches is what the university needs to support their bold campaign to take the university to new heights and achievements. DesRoches' hiring is not an affirmative action hiring but an act of him being the right guy for the job. After a nationwide search the board of trustees selected the internationally recognized structural engineer and earthquake resilience expert to succeed President David Leebron when he steps down. DesRoches comes as an internal hire, joining the Rice family in 2017 as the incoming dean of the engineering school. In this post, the school saw significant growth with enrollment, research programs, and college rankings. DesRoches was also responsible for establishing a collaborative research center in India with IIT-Kanpur.

From that position, DesRoches advance to become provost in 2020 where he took on the responsibility of leading the university more than 8,000 students and faculty. A task that proved most challenging over the past year when the way students learned had to be transitioned to remote learning. The university again saw more growth under DesRoches' helm with more research awards, centers and institutions, and community partnerships and programs with intuitions and organizations like the Texas Medical Center.

“Reggie DesRoches is an outstanding choice as Rice’s next president,” current President David Leebron said. “I have had the privilege of working closely with Reggie over the last 4½ years, first in his capacity of dean of engineering and then as provost, and observed firsthand his extraordinary leadership, values, thoughtfulness and ambition for Rice."

Many students, faculty and alum join with President Leebron in cheering the hiring of DesRoches.

"The appointment of Mr. DesRoches speaks volumes to the change and improvements the University is making to address diversity, equity and inclusion discrepancies over its 100 + year history. It is a major and visible step in the right direction that I hope will foster a brighter future for students like me for years to come," said April Frazier, Jones School Black Alum class of 2011.

"This speaks profoundly to the value Rice & Board of Trustees put towards DE&I and being a true Thought Leader in this space, not only in academia but in a city as diverse as Houston," said another alum of the class of 2011 business school.

DesRoches' vision for Rice's future includes building upon his past successes and advancing them on another level. He has a goal to grow the student body by 20% over the next five years and increase the diversity of students and staff. Outside of that little will be said until he officially is installed as president.

The push for diversity and inclusion was not a priority when Jonathan Chism was a student at Rice in the early 2000's. Earning B.A., M.A., and Ph.D. from the elite intuition, Chism said he had no prior knowledge of the school's history and even after finding out about it that he never felt like he didn't belong at Rice.

"Just like the United States, our history is littered with exclusion." He continued, "I think we just adjust and move."

As a three time Black alum from the classes of 2004, 2012, and 2014, Chism recalled how the statue of the founder set in the center of campus and students just accepted it and went on.

"It didn't create the type of alarm that it creates today," commented Chism.

The outrage throughout the country over such publicized cases like that of George Floyd has hit Rice's students and given them the desire to attempt to right the wrong of the past. The idea is not to run from the history but correct it for the future. This will take an ongoing education of the Rice's family and the center as a whole. During his Rice days, Chism added to the diversity of his school with his membership in the Black Students Association and being the founding president of the campus chapter's National Association for the Advancement of Color People.

"When I learned of the news I was floored and extremely proud that Rice is making this move. And it seems they are not just doing this for the purpose of diversity, which is important, but from what I have read the students, the faculty, the persons on the search team were all on one accord that he was the best person for the job at this time." Chism continued, "It is a sign of progress for the intuition, for the city and especially given Rice's stature so it is meaningful on multiple levels and so I proud as alum with BA but also as a former PhD student who is familiar with the academic job market and how tough that is I am proud on that level."

DesRoches is a Port-au-Prince, Haiti native who grew up in Queens, New York. Although neither of his parents had a college education, they instilled the importance of having in DesRoches and his siblings. He is a three time alum of the University of California at Berkeley with a Bachelor of Science in Mechanical Engineering, Master of Science in Civil Engineering, and Doctorate in Structural Engineering. The author of hundreds of articles and presenter of hundreds of presentations has a passion for the design of resilient infrastructure systems under extreme loads and the application of smart materials according to those who know him academically. He is a family with a wife and children. Others say that he is really a nice guy who is a bit shy. All the attention he is garnering over his new position is a bit overwhelming for him. He will have just about six months to get use to the spotlight as he will officially assume office on July 1, 2022.

Congratulations Dr. Reginald DesRoches from the Houston Style Magazine team.