Dear Rice community,
I’m excited to share some wonderful news that marks a significant milestone in Rice’s history. Thanks to an extraordinary gift from the Chao family foundation, Rice will soon open its 12th residential college — the Ting Tsung and Wei Fong Chao College, referred to as Chao College. The Chao family foundation is led by Houston business and philanthropic leaders and siblings Dorothy Chao Jenkins, James Chao and Rice Trustee Emeritus Albert Chao.
This new college reflects the very best of what makes Rice so special. Our residential college system has long been at the heart of the Rice undergraduate experience — shaping not just where students live but how they grow, lead and connect. Chao College will offer nearly 300 on-campus beds and, together with its off-campus community, will be home to more than 400 undergraduate students who will be welcomed into a living and learning community built on values we all cherish: inclusion, mentorship, tradition and student-driven leadership.
Designed by the renowned Danish architectural firm Henning Larsen with Houston-based Kirksey as executive architect and Harvey Cleary Construction as general contractor, the college will include two residential towers. One tower is five stories, and the other is 10 stories. The building complex will feature sustainable design elements, a rooftop terrace and an expansive 11,000-square-foot quad — all created with community and collaboration in mind. Currently under construction, the college will be situated at Entrance 4 along Main Street and will share a servery with the new Lovett College building, which is also under construction.
We are deeply grateful to the Chao family, whose longstanding support of Rice includes the Chao Center for Asian Studies and now this remarkable commitment to student life and our growing student body. Their name now becomes part of the very fabric of campus, carrying forward a legacy of leadership, generosity and connection.
The Chao family has long been known for its pioneering contributions to the global performance and essential materials industries, for its housing and infrastructure products businesses, and for its legacy of civic and philanthropic leadership in Houston and beyond.
The late Ting Tsung (T.T.) Chao built a global enterprise in Asia before moving his business to Houston in the 1980s with his wife, Wei Fong. He and their sons James and Albert went on to found Westlake Corp., now a Fortune 500 company. Today, James serves as Westlake’s senior chairman and Albert as executive chairman, while Dorothy Chao Jenkins retired from the company’s board in 2023. Four of the siblings’ children are Rice alumni, as are Albert’s wife and James’ daughter-in-law.
Decades of support from the family have advanced many transformative Rice initiatives. In 2008, the Chao family foundation awarded a grant to establish the Chao Center for Asian Studies in the School of Humanities, which has become a premier hub for scholarship and outreach. Soon thereafter, Albert’s wife, Anne Chao, who earned both her master’s and doctorate degrees in history from Rice, co-founded the Houston Asian American Archive, housed within the Chao Center and the university’s Fondren Library.
The family has also supported initiatives such as the establishment of Chao chair professorships and student scholarships, as well as the ongoing Asian American Community Study in the Kinder Institute for Urban Research. Other grant awards have supported the development of affordable life-saving technology through the Rice360 Institute for Global Health Technologies, the Rice Emerging Scholars Program, Brockman Hall for Opera in the Shepherd School of Music and William T. Cannady Hall for Architecture.
Chao College will stand as a lasting tribute to the entire Chao family, ensuring their legacy continues to inspire and shape generations of Owls to come. I can’t wait to see the spirit, traditions and memories that will take root at Chao College when it opens in fall 2026.
Please join me in thanking the Chao family for their remarkable generosity and friendship to Rice.
I look forward to seeing everyone back on campus soon for the fall semester!
Warmly,
Reginald DesRoches, President