Dear faculty and staff,
I am pleased to share that, with the support of the Rice Board of Trustees, I have extended Provost and Executive Vice President for Academic Affairs Amy Dittmar’s contract through the 2031 fiscal year.
Since joining Rice in 2022, Amy has been an exceptional partner to me and an indispensable member of our leadership team. She brings a strong understanding of higher education, a deep commitment to academic excellence, a clear sense of what Rice can and must accomplish, and a remarkable ability to turn ambitious ideas into action. Her leadership has touched nearly every part of our academic enterprise and has helped position Rice for continued growth and greater impact in the years ahead.
As provost, Amy oversees Rice’s academic enterprise, with direct reporting from the deans of eight schools, the vice provost for student life and dean of undergraduates, the dean of graduate and postdoctoral studies, the vice president for global strategy, the vice president for enrollment and dean of admissions and financial aid, and other key university leaders. She co-led a transformation of the university’s budget process and oversees the academic budget in partnership with the executive vice president for operations, finance and support. She also led the development and implementation of our strategic plan, Momentous, which establishes Rice’s direction for the next decade. In both the budget transformation and development of the strategic plan, Amy has worked closely with faculty and staff to be both inclusive and transparent.
Amy has been particularly focused on ensuring that our growth strengthens the quality of a Rice education and expands our capacity for research, discovery and impact. She is leading an ambitious faculty expansion that will ultimately increase Rice’s tenure-track faculty by 25% and has hired 200 tenure-track faculty members at all levels and across all schools in areas that advance the goals of the strategic plan. Faculty are core to our mission and Amy’s commitment to excellence across the breadth of the academy through hiring will transform the university for decades to come. At the same time, she has increased resources to recruit and retain outstanding faculty and strengthened support for graduate students, including annual stipend increases, increased support for health care, and expanded on-campus dining options. In addition, the undergraduate student body has grown dramatically during her time at Rice, and she has worked to ensure our deep commitment to a personalized education as we grow.
She is passionate about ensuring that every student at Rice has ample opportunities to be successful. Under her leadership, Rice launched Owl Access to support first-generation and low income students, and she was instrumental in securing the gift and designing the Sallyport Fellows Program, a comprehensive initiative supporting first-generation and limited-income undergraduate students throughout their Rice experience. A cornerstone of the program is incorporating research and assessment to not only improve Rice’s program but to advance support for students throughout higher education. Amy also created the Office of Academic Support for Undergraduate Students, which launched Rice’s first central tutoring and test accommodation center. The center offers peer tutoring for 30 foundational courses supported through a gift that Amy helped to secure. Approximately 2,000 students used these support services last year, including almost 70% of first and second year students, and this number is expected to grow as services are expanded.
Beyond campus, Amy has helped deepen Rice’s partnerships and extend our reach. She has strengthened our connections with the Texas Medical Center, launching numerous new programs, research centers and institutes, and seed grants for research particularly around cancer and brain health. She sits on governance boards overseeing partnerships with several institutes in the TMC and serves as co-chair of the steering committee for Metis, an initiative led by the Center for Houston’s Future to position the Houston-Galveston region as a global leader in brain health and the emerging brain economy. She also oversees Rice Global, which has established and expanded teaching and research partnerships across Europe, Asia and Latin America, and she serves as president of Rice Global LLC, which oversees the Rice Global Paris Center, the Rice School of Architecture in Paris and Rice Global India.
Taken together, Amy’s work has helped Rice grow with purpose. She has strengthened our faculty, expanded support for students, brought greater alignment to our academic and financial planning, deepened our connections in Houston and around the world, and helped translate our aspirations into a clear strategy for the future. Just as important, she is a thoughtful, collaborative and trusted colleague whose judgment and leadership make our entire executive team stronger. I am grateful for all she has contributed to Rice and delighted that she will continue helping lead the university through this important period in its history.
Please join me in congratulating Amy and thanking her for her continued leadership and service to Rice.
Sincerely,
Reginald DesRoches
President, Rice University