Greetings Glasscock School Friends,

As we enter December, the signs of the season surround us. The sunlight gives way to evening earlier each day, Texas temperatures are close to perfect, our neighbors are putting out decorations for the holidays and the inevitability of another year coming to a close fills us all with a sense of accomplishment and resolute optimism. Regardless of background, we all have traditions at this time of year--those holiday staples that make the year end so special. A personal favorite is Charles Dickens’ classic novella, “A Christmas Carol.” In all its iterations, whether the dog-eared pages of a book, the 1984 George C. Scott-led movie or even the Muppets version, they all hold a special place during the holidays. In part, nostalgia gives it some level of potency this time of year, but I think a larger draw is actually the message itself. The year’s end is a time of reflection on what was, what is and what is yet to be, which makes “A Christmas Carol” so timely and so timeless. In that spirit, I wanted to take a moment to share a few thoughts with our community. Indulge me, if you will, as we embrace this season, looking back, looking on and looking ahead.

Looking Back

Mankind was my business. The common welfare was my business; charity, mercy, forbearance, benevolence, were all my business. The dealings of my trade were but a drop of water in the comprehensive ocean of my business! - Jacob Marley, “A Christmas Carol”

It is impossible to look back on the past year and not address the many ways in which COVID-19 has impacted every facet of our lives. Even as progress is made in minimizing the transmission and severity of the disease, we are now facing the economic and emotional toll this pandemic has had around the globe. Yet, as in any struggle our society has faced, difficulty walks in lock step with opportunity, and we have all seen the glow of resilience penetrate this dark time. At the Glasscock School, we have had the privilege of seeing so many of you exhibit this resilience in pursuit of your goals this year. Along with that privilege, we also have the responsibility to do all we can to help you get there. Though our complete efforts in this are more than we can succinctly list, I would like to share a few.

• Opening Rice: For more than 50 years, the Susanne M. Glasscock School of Continuing Studies has offered personal and professional development opportunities to the Houston community and beyond in a variety of subject areas, opening the gates of the Rice experience to the world. OpenRICE builds on that legacy. Launched on the onset of the pandemic in 2020, OpenRICE initially focused on the enormous transformations taking place in work, learning and life. Today, OpenRICE has evolved to address new and emerging topics of interest to our community. This year we conducted 26 OpenRICE sessions covering not only pandemic-related topics, but pressing issues our community faces in regard to access, equity, diversity and politics. And I must acknowledge that much of this was funded by you, our Glasscock School community. Whether indirectly as a student in one of our many programs, or directly through a donation, our ability to offer this free resource to our community is because of you. More than 15,000 educators, professionals, nonprofit workers, and other Houstonians have participated in OpenRICE, and on behalf of them and us, thank you.
  
• A new website to better serve you: In March of 2021, we launched our new website, designed completely with you and your goals in mind. For most of you, engaging with this site is the first step into the next chapter of your life. Whether you are a Degree Seeker, a Professional, an Educator, a K12 Student, a Lifelong Learner or a Language Learner, we have positioned everything to help you easily and efficiently begin your continuing education journey.
  
• Online Offerings: While we have been offering online courses for a decade at the Glasscock School, the pandemic certainly forced us to build on this capability so that our students could stay on track with their educational goals. As mentioned above, difficulty and opportunity are a matched pair, and we took full advantage this year to expand those offerings in areas where online classes were already taking place. Additionally, areas that had previously only offered in-person courses also expanded online, allowing us to make the high-quality education Rice is known for even more accessible to those in the greater Houston area and beyond.
  
  

Looking On

He went to the church, and walked about the streets, and watched the people hurrying to and for, and patted the children on the head, and questioned beggars, and looked down into the kitchens of homes, and up to the windows, and found that everything could yield him pleasure. He had never dreamed of any walk, that anything, could give him so much happiness. - Narrator, “A Christmas Carol”

Being a part of the Glasscock School community is something we are thankful for year round. Looking on as each of you accomplish your goals and expand your knowledge is truly a gift, and one that we never take for granted. As a part of this life-changing engine, I have a unique view into something I’m not sure many consider, and that is the reciprocal nature of our community. As a non-profit extension of Rice, each of your individual successes, in some part, is laying the foundation for the next student who comes behind you. Every enrollment or donation allows us to continue offering more opportunities to others. As we work together to help you achieve your goals, we are opening doors for someone else. Your success fuels more success. Knowing this, I’d like to share a few of these success stories you helped make a reality.

• Meet the Teacher, Meet the Future: While the past 19 months have been trying for all of us, our teachers have carried an exceptionally large burden. What was already a difficult task became exponentially so in the midst of the pandemic. Yet, we are seeing a new generation of educators take on the challenge. For our part, we are ensuring that they are fully equipt with both scholarship and mentorship through Rice’s Center for Education.
  In the midst of the pandemic, we experienced unprecedented growth in our Master of Arts in Teaching Residency Program with 18 clinical teachers serving in 13 Houston ISD schools. Currently, we have 62 principals, teachers, and clinical teachers serving in Houston Area school districts impacting thousands of students. Our programs have received Texas Education Agency Awards from 2018-2021 for Academic Rigor in certification of teachers, and we’ve produced a “Rookie Teacher of the Year” every year since 2013. A recent example is Christen Smajstrla, who not only won rookie teacher of the year at her campus, but also for all of HISD. Like Christen, our Rice-trained teachers leave our program prepared for the rigor of public education, and immediately make a difference as leaders on their campuses.
  
• Boots on the Ground: In the three years since we launched our Technology Boot Camps, we have seen remarkable growth, enrolling nearly 1,400 students. The real story, however, is what lies behind those enrollment numbers. To date, we have had more than 850 graduates from these programs, with more than half being people of color and one quarter of our graduates do not hold a bachelor's degree. Those 850 graduates now have technology careers in more than 144 different companies like Accenture, CenterPoint, Sysco, among many others. If that isn’t impressive enough, the average salary increase of a Rice Boot Camp graduate is $21,492 per year. When we say that Continuing Education is life changing, we mean it.
  
• An Unconventional Path: This November, one of our English as a Second Language students, Alexander Hernández, was featured in a Rice News article. Alexander is close to completing his Master of Global Affairs degree through Rice’s School of Social Sciences, and while it may seem that his path was unconventional in many ways, we firmly believe that any path through the Glassock School is one heading towards success.
  
• An Investment with a Return: While individual student accomplishments are the primary way we measure our own success, another key indicator is when others recognize the value of our contribution to the community and choose to partner with us to achieve even more together. This year, we have seen significant financial contributions across the Glasscock School, which helps to fuel more future success. While not exhaustive, a few that come to mind include:
  • Bank of America partnered with the Center for Philanthropy and Nonprofit Leadership to support the leadership development of Black, Hispanic and AAPI leaders currently employed by Houston area nonprofit organizations.
  • Dr. Mary V. “Vicky” Gresik generously established a planned gift to create the Jean and Herman Gresik Graduate Liberal Studies Departmental Endowment. The endowment will provide general support to the Graduate Liberal Studies department, including research expenses, student and faculty travel stipends, events and guest speakers.
  • Sheila D. Whitford, instructor and field supervisor at the Center for Education, generously established the Whitford/Winkler Family Endowed Scholarship, which will provide need-based financial aid to students enrolled in Rice’s teacher and/or principal certification programs, including the Master of Arts in Teaching program, giving preference to students who currently or intend to teach in high-need schools, and/or are underrepresented minority students.
  • In response to what has been an especially challenging time for teachers, CenterPoint Energy, the Herman H. Fleishman Foundation, and the Powell Foundation all contributed funding to our School Literacy & Culture program, allowing us to offer professional development to PreK 3 through 1st grade teachers absolutely free of charge. The free on-demand summit allows us to share creative and innovative content we know teachers want and need in a way that supports a healthy home and work life balance.
  • Our Center for Education has also received support from the Melbern G. & Susanne M. Glasscock Foundation, HEB and Raise Your Hand Texas.

There simply are no words adequate to express our gratitude to those who recognize the critical work we are accomplishing at the Glasscock School and who support our students in reaching their goals.

Looking Ahead

No space of regret can make amends for one life's opportunity misused! - Jacob Marley, “A Christmas Carol”

Having looked back on some key accomplishments, and looked on to some current achievements with gratitude, we now look forward with optimism at what the new year holds for us all. Of course, the optimism doesn’t come simply from a new calendar. According to a survey by U.S. News & World Report, of those who make New Year's resolutions, 80% fail to keep them with the majority giving up by mid-February. Why is that? Are our goals too ambitious? Do we lack the resources to accomplish them? Is it a matter of distraction? For most, the stumbling block is not the goal, but the absence of a plan to reach it. It is with this in mind, that we are proposing a jump start on New Year’s resolutions--for us and for you. An opportunity to identify those goals that have been alluding us, and to make a plan to finally get where we want to be. For our part, we are making plans in the following areas to support our goals in the new year:

• Returning to Campus: This spring, we are looking forward to welcoming more of you back to campus. Our online offerings will always be a part of our efforts at the Glasscock School, but we are so ready to see all of you back on the Rice campus at the Anderson-Clarke Center. To ensure the safest environment possible, we have modified our in-person policies. We truly can’t wait to see you this spring.
  
• New Programming: As with each year, we are consistently evaluating our current offerings as well as the needs of our Houston community in terms of professional skills, educator preparation, non-profit leadership and personal development. Our portfolio of courses has grown tremendously in recent years, and we will seek to add even more valuable learning opportunities in 2022 to better serve you.
  
• Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion: While we have made significant steps in this area, in the coming year, we aim to do even more regarding Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion. These efforts will include internal shifts to ensure that we better represent the community we serve, as well as external opportunities for each of you to examine your role in making our workplaces, schools, and city a more fertile environment that fosters the growth of everyone.
  
• Be Bold - In 1962, just a stone's throw from the Glasscock School’s Anderson-Clarke Center, President John F. Kennedy challenged the United States to place a man on the moon in less than a decade. Through this bold vision, we accomplished exactly that and established our nation as the leader in space. In his speech, Kennedy said, “we must be bold,” in order to meet the audacious goal. The spirit of that speech and the call to boldness still reverberates in everything we do at Rice University. Towards this, we have launched our “Be Bold” campaign. For the Glasscock School’s part, we aim to enable and accelerate Houston's success as a 21st-century metropolis, champion educational equity, and attract and serve a student body that reflects Houston as a diverse, multicultural city. To do this, we will strengthen rigorous teacher preparation and professional development in public schools through the Center for Education, invest in our nonprofit industries that are so vital to the success of our city through our Center for Philanthropy and Nonprofit Leadership, and create a new level of access and inclusion through student grants and by expanding OpenRICE. We invite you to join us in this bold challenge, knowing there is nothing we can’t accomplish when we work together.

He became as good a friend, as good a master, and as good a man as the good old City knew, or any other good old city, town, or borough in the good old world. - Narrator, “A Christmas Carol”

How about you? What are your goals for the new year, and how are you making plans to ensure your success? In large part, our goals are always about transformation, and we firmly believe that transformation begins with education. If your hope for the new year is upskilling in your current role, advancing in your organization or even starting a new career altogether, we can help you with your plan. If you are seeking to learn something new through a course or degree in a community of like-minded peers, we can help. If your goal is to give back to a community that has afforded you new opportunities, we can help you plan that, too.

This year, let’s be resolute and finally accomplish those ambitions we put off year after year. Let’s make a bold plan and reach our goals together. When we reach this point again in 2022, will we have accomplished our goals? Will we have been bolder or will we just be one year older?

Friends, we must be bold.

We hope that the remainder of this holiday season brings an abundance of joy to you and yours, and we are looking forward to all we will accomplish together in the new year.

Robert G. Bruce, Dean
Susanne M. Glasscock School of Continuing Studies