Strategic Advising

Guided by the University’s mission and values and the Provost’s strategic priorities and goals, OSEI works with faculty and staff colleagues to provide guidance for alignment of efforts and resources and to generate forward-thinking, evidence-based solutions that address barriers of infrastructure, policy, and practice.

People walking

Global Education

In fall 2023, OSEI completed a comprehensive review of barriers and opportunities for Rice undergraduates to take part in educational experiences in international settings. This led to a blueprint for a new, centralized organizational structure in which an augmented global education office in the Dean of Undergraduates division and the Office of Global would provide essential infrastructure to support faculty and students and strengthen and align global education policies, procedures, strategy, and offerings.

Following on this work, Caroline Quenemoen served in fall 2024 as a member ex officio of the General Education Committee and developed the QEP topic proposal on Global Experiences. She currently serves as member ex officio of the QEP Committee, charged by the Provost in spring 2025 to develop the QEP topic.

Students talking on bench

University Task Force on Student Success and ARC Working Group

In 2022, Matt chaired the University Task Force on Student Success, charged by then Provost DesRoches to investigate the factors affecting student attrition and identify recommendations to increase belonging, persistence, and academic success. The Task Force made 11 recommendations, which were approved for implementation by the Board of Trustees in December 2022. These include establishment of a central academic resource center (ARC) to provide tutoring and supplemental instruction, expansion of pre-matriculation courses and programs, and resources to provide equitable access to undergraduate research and faculty.

To advance the Task Force recommendations, Matt chaired and Caroline served on the ARC Working Group (WG), which surveyed faculty and students on needs and desired resources for academic support; benchmarked academic resource centers at AAU and other peer universities; and conducted site visits to ARC’s at seven universities. The report to Provost Dittmar in December 2023 proposed a comprehensive model for providing centralized academic support at Rice–in close collaboration with the faculty and existing academic support units/programs–with the ultimate vision of ensuring that every Rice undergraduate is able to pursue, progress through, and achieve their preferred academic path. Above all, the WG recommended establishment of a new academic support office to be co-located with existing offices to form the ARC; programming focused on foundational STEM and quantitative reasoning courses; reliance on peer-led collaborative learning; and establishment of a centralized accommodations testing.

Office of Strategic and Educational Initiatives

Campus Location

Allen Center, Suite 400
6100 Main Street
Houston, TX 77005

Mailing Address

Office of the Provost, MS-2
Rice University
PO Box 1892
Houston, TX 77251-1892

Contact Information

348-2155 (phone)
713.348.5971 (fax)
ptt@rice.edu