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A hundred years ago, mules and men built an educational institution on a swath of undeveloped prairie land in Harris County. There were no roads or infrastructure when they dug into the ground.That little school grew into a leader in research, a home for intellectuals and the pride of the city of Houston. This year, that school, Rice University, is throwing a big centennial celebration, and Houston is invited to join the fun.

“This is an important year for the university,” said Kathleen Boyd, centennial director. “We’ll celebrate the past and think about the next 100 years.”The university’s regular events will be bigger and better than ever – “on centennial steroids,” Boyd said.

The homecoming and reunion events, usually held in November, have been moved up as part of the centennial week festivities October 10-17, and other mostly free special events will be held around the birthday, as well as exhibits planted throughout the campus and city.

“From its founding, Rice University has been an institution devoted to making a meaningful impact on the world,” said Rice President David Leebron. “This October, we will commemorate Rice’s centennial and celebrate the remarkable journey that has transformed Rice from a bold little institute on the edge of the prairie to a global, comprehensive university on the cutting edge of education and research.

“We hope Houstonians will be just as excited as we are about this historic occasion, because Rice University and the city of Houston grew up together. Such local landmarks as the Texas Medical Center, the Museum District, Hermann Park and NASA have connections to Rice, as does the emergence of the fields of space science and nanotechnology. The Centennial Celebration promises to be one of the most vibrant events ever held here, and we will be rolling out the red carpet for all our guests, whether they be from the Rice family, our Houston community or the other side of the globe.”

The university has been dressed up with 100 banners that highlight significant moments in its history. April 11-15, the university will open its doors to the community for UnConvention, which will feature tours, the annual Engineering Design Showcase, tennis matches, faculty and students performing at the Shepherd School of Music, and more.

“That’s a campus-wide open house,” Boyd said. “We’ll showcase a broad-brush stroke of all that goes on at Rice.”

The centennial fundraising campaign launched in 2008 with a goal of raising $1 billion by June 30, 2013. As of mid  January, they were at $756 million, Boyd said. Donors can give at http://giving.rice.edu/.

Boyd, who graduated from Rice in 1980 with a double major in economics and managerial studies, doesn’t work on the fundraising campaign. She’s overseeing the celebration and commemoration and focused on the “lasting contributions” that are an important part of the centennial events. The lasting contributions include 10 books that are being released throughout the year, public art around campus, and a lecture series.

The lecturers will be announced in the next couple of months, Boyd said. Chief Justice John Roberts has already been confirmed as the lecturer at the Tudor Fieldhouse on October 17. The other lecturers will be visionaries from a variety of industries, including health, energy and education, and the humanities.

“We looked at the most important issues of our day and found visionaries in those areas,” Boyd said.

“From an academic standpoint, the centennial is a terrific opportunity for the faculty and students, not just those from Rice but from all over, to think about the future of the university in the public culture and the world. And to think about universities’ broader impact in a global world,” said Caroline Levander, vice provost for interdisciplinary initiatives, Carlson professor in the humanities and English professor. “The questions that so many top-tier universities have are: What will the next 100 years bring? What are the intellectual opportunities? How do we make the world a better place in the face of some really daunting challenges culturally, with human rights, with the environment?”

On February 27 and 28, scholars will be discussing the future of the research university in a global age at the De Lange Conference, which is open to the public, and the theme of the 2011-2012 Scientia lecture series is “Rice: A Century of Change.” There is one lecture in that series in each of February, March and April. Some of the events around the birthday will be open to the public, although audience size might be limited because the venues have small capacity, Boyd said. Rice alums, families, friends, staff and faculty will have first dibs on the free tickets. While the typical homecoming and reunion festivities usually draw about 3,000 alumni to campus, Boyd expects about 5,000 this year.

At the university’s opening ceremonies 100 years ago, Edgar Odell Lovett, the first president, laid out a vision for the university that still points its direction and that will form the blueprint as the university plots its course for the next 100 years. That address was published in The Meaning of the New Institution, which was updated and rereleased for the centennial.A statue of Odell Lovett by world-renowned sculpture Bruce Wolfe will be unveiled at Keck Hall on October 13.

The university was chartered with money left by businessman William Marsh Rice. The terms of the charter required that work on the new institute would begin after his death.On September 23, 1900, Rice was chloroformed to death by his valet, Charlie Jones, who had conspired with a lawyer, Albert Patrick, to murder the aging millionaire and claim his estate using a forged will. Jones testified against Patrick in return for immunity, and Patrick was convicted of the murder. Citing doubts about the evidence, the governor of New York pardoned Patrick in 1912, the same year classes began at the Rice Institute with 77 students and a dozen faculty.

Now, everyone can tell his (or her) Rice story, even those who didn’t go to Rice, as part of the Centennial Story Project. By visiting http://centennial.rice.edu/stories/ they can upload a photo of themselves flashing the owl symbol with their hands, a short video explaining what the university means to them, or tell a reason to celebrate Rice.

“Rice is not only a serious place; it’s a quirky place too. We tried to have some fun things show that, as well,” Boyd said.

Dave Schafer is a free-lance journalist and new reporter for Houston Woman Magazine.

Books took on human qualities when I was a little girl. Some were comforting; some were contrary, and all were loved. My entrepreneurial spirit developed, I grew a little bit taller, and by the end of second grade, I was the founder and president of my own book club. I wrote, illustrated and sold pocketbook-sized tales to my peers for a quarter. Then, I hit double digits and discovered the wonderful world of magazines. When most girls my age were asking for neon-colored windbreakers, caboodles and headphones, I was begging my parents for magazine subscriptions. In the span of two and a half decades, through fads and growing pains, my love of words remains.

A good writer can take the most mundane, dense topics and transform them into something beautiful, enjoyable and profound. I admire those who have the ability to turn complex ideas into something digestible and entertaining — like three journalists who have fueled my desire to become a skilled and artful writer. 

Isabel Wilkerson is the first African-American woman to win a Pulitzer Prize for individual reporting, which she won for her work at The New York Times. Wilkerson’s book, The Warmth of Other Suns, is a journalistic masterpiece, in my opinion. Drawn from the research and interviews she conducted over the past decade, she recounts the impact of the great migration of African-Americans from the Jim Crow south to the northern cities of the United States. I admire Wilkerson for the intensity in which she researches her subjects, and I also look up to her as a successful female journalist.

My favorite staff writer for The New Yorker is Malcolm Gladwell. I discovered him on the New York Times Bestsellers List, and then retraced his work back to the magazine. The thing I most admire about Gladwell is his writing style. Gladwell draws connections from faraway places and sits them neatly in your lap. A consummate storyteller, his work grabs you by your shirt collar and doesn’t set you down until you have come to the last page. By merging storytelling with research, he challenges assumptions painlessly. 

Jeffrey Toobin, also on staff at The New Yorker, is a senior legal analyst for CNN and a gifted attorney, who first served as an Assistant U.S. Attorney in New York. I was familiar with him from CNN, but I came to admire his writing prowess through his best-selling book, The Nine. The U.S. Supreme Court, the subject of the book, is arguably one of the driest subjects a layperson could wish to read about, but Toobin manages to create an account that is both informative and captivating. I greatly admire Toobin’s career because it most closely mirrors my own aspirations. He is an accomplished attorney and journalist, equally. 

I love writing, and I also love the law. During my teenage years, I was devouring books by John Grisham and Scott Turow, but I hadn’t yet decided I wanted to be an attorney. Like most young people, I wrestled with several ideas about which direction I would take in the years ahead. My first job, as a waitress at a small town family restaurant in the Pacific Northwest, is where I galvanized my legal ambition. A chance encounter with a tall stranger in a tiny vintage Jaguar convertible is what led me to my current path in life. The day he came in during my shift, we started a casual conversation, and I expressed interest in learning more about his work. He became a wonderful mentor to me. Often, we would send emails back and forth; he generously answered any question I had about my dreams of law school and beyond.

Often, when I tell people I want to become an attorney, they ask me why I’m not a pre-law major. I always tell them: Law is a writing-intensive profession. By studying journalism, I have learned to write persuasively and acquired good investigative and interviewing skills. I’ve learned how to disseminate information, sharpened my critical thinking skills and become a more conscious consumer of information. 

I am confident I will be a better attorney due to my experiences as a journalist. After I pass the bar and begin practicing law, I want to continue to use my writing skills beyond the legal field. I would love to see my name on the New York Times Bestsellers List. I want to be recognized as a great attorney and an even greater writer.   

Bethany Redd is a senior at the University of Houston, majoring in journalism. She is working this semester as an intern at Houston Woman Magazine.

I can’t remember when I first learned about Rosie the Riveter. She’s always been there, like the national anthem and baseball. So, I was surprised, two years ago, when my 13-year-od friend, Lara, explained she thought the iconic poster from the 1940s was an old ad for power tools.It was a Saturday morning in early October, and Lara came by as I was pulling a piece of spongy wood trim off the back window of my beach shack. 

“Just trying to stay ahead of decay,” I said, and asked if she wanted to help.

She picked up my cordless drill and posed with flexed bicep: “We can do it,’ she said.

“You’re a Rosie fan,” I said.

“Who?”

“Rosie the Riveter. You know. We can do it.” Lara shrugged.

“I saw her on your dishtowels,” she said.

My dishtowels! She liked the graphics: the tough, albeit unpierced chick. Strong and confident, Lara can relate. She sees no limit to what she can accomplish.

The women who built the steady stream of replacement warships and aircraft deployed in World War II are elderly now. The youngest of them is more than 80 years old. While we are often reminded we are losing our veterans at a rapid rate, less is said of the mothers, sisters and lovers who equipped the troops and made essential contributions on the home front. They are the great and great-great grandmothers of the young women I see on the bus, texting friends. I’ve often wondered it today’s daughters know the stories.

According to Lara, “Not really.”

Seventy years have passed since Pearl Harbor was attacked.American women were Roosevelt’s secret army, and Hitler gravely underestimated them. Like their soldier brothers, they too left ordinary lives to do extrordinary things. They worked in difficult and dangerous conditions, often at the limit of their physical ability. They accomplished tasks they had never imagined having the training or strength to do. They were the home half of the gratest generation. They helped save the world.

Many of these women suddenly found themselves single, working parents, at a time when stay-at-home moms were the norm. For some, the change was permanent - a result of the war’s terrible toll. The industrialist, Henry Kaiser, brooke new ground supporting working mothers, providing day care, health care, even a war rations office on site to help employees manage the demands of job and family. It was a time of significant and lasting social change. The healthcare Kaiser first offered his workers in 1945, “for 40 cents a week,” survives today as Kaiser Permanente, with 8.6 million health plan members.

Minority women often traveled far for an opportunity to earn more than the daily rage of the domestic. They joined an integrated workforce, bound together by common cause. They excelled.

When the soldiers came home, women surrendered their places in industry, not all were happy to return to traditional roles or to a more segregated society. I’ve been writing stories about three of these women for a couple of years now, following them and their arrival in the shipyards, through industrial accidents, through bereavement of soldier relatives; I’m inspired by them. I find their influence and worldview reflected in their daughters’ commitment to gender and racial equality, and in the activism of youth in the 1960s and 1970s. The Rosies taught their kids they too could change the world.

On October 25, 2000 President Clinton signed a bill establishing the Rosie the Riveter WWII Home Front National Historical Park at the site of the former Kaiser shipyards and near other wartime industrial sites in Richmond, California. Realization of the 15-year implementation plan for the park will require public and private investment.

The Rosie the Riveter Trust assists the Park Service with fundraising and manages an online store with things that include a Rosie action figure, complete with spring-loaded rivet gun and lunchbox. Every boy or girl with a G.I. Joe or Barbie may want to add Rosie to the collection, and support a great cause. 

We owe a debt of gratitude to the Rosies, especially those of us who found more open doors in life than our mothers did. Rosie was with me when I worked my way through college. She was with me when I learned to adjust the valves in my Volkswagen engine, climbed Mt. Kenya and built the beach shack I now call home.

Last week, Lara, now nearly 15, told me about a visit she made to relatives in Canada and how she helped lay a new hardwood floor. She spoke enthusiastically about learning how to measure and cut wood, how to nail on an angle. I imagine her building her own beach shack someday. And, when we all go by to warm it, I will bring her new dish towels, silk-screened with the beloved image of Rosie the Riveter.

Therese Ambrosi Smith is the author of “Wax,” a novel about women in the 1940s, published by Blue Star Books. More information can be found online at www.womeninthe1940s.com.
For more information about the Rosie the Riveter WWII Home Front National Historical Park, go online and visit www.nps.gov/rori/.

By 21st century standards, the financial services industry is woefully lacking in women professionals, numbering only one or two in 10. It’s a trend that industry leader Morgan Stanley Smith Barney (MSSB) wants to stop with a bold new initiative.

MSSB’s Houston offices have teamed together to form the Women’s Advisory Council, a firm-wide prototype, aimed at attracting not only more women financial advisors, but also women clients who represent an astounding $14 to $20 trillion opportunity in assets.

“From a purely commercial standpoint, women are growing exponentially as a potential client base,” said Lisa Cregan, managing director and manager of MSSB’s Houston Post Oak Complex.

“We believe that when it comes to financial and wealth planning, women and men approach the process differently and part of the mission of our Women’s Advisory Council is to help educate our advisors on how they can be more effective in helping our women clients achieve their financial goals and in understanding the complexities of their lives.” 

“There seems to be a big disconnect as to why more women are not in the financial services industry,” said Kirstin Turner, senior vice president and branch manager of MSSB’s downtown Houston   office. “Women comprise 50 percent of stock market investors, more than 50 percent of all new small business owners, and yet their presence in the financial services industry is still running at about eight to 12 percent.

”MSSB’s Women’s Advisory Council is a culturally diverse body of 10 Houston-based financial advisors. The Council’s mission is to create events in the Houston market that help develop and enhance the careers of current MSSB women financial advisors who can then serve as role models and mentors to new women advisor candidates – thereby branding MSSB as the firm of choice for women advisors and clients.Because of the grassroots efforts of the council, Houston was selected by MSSB’s home office to be a focus city and prototype for this project. 

“Houston is one of the few large market places that have two women leaders, and we have quite a large proportion of successful women advisors,” explained Turner. “And they thought; it’s working here, so let’s find out why."

MSSB’s goal is to help its advisors listen better to their women clients’ needs and acknowledge the important role their families and relationships play in their lives. At the same time, the firm believes a career as a financial advisor is tailor-made for women, since clients want advisors who care about their family relationships. Advisor positions do offer flexibility because they are essentially run as one’s own business under the auspices of a global firm, while offering the same pay rate for both men and women.

“The irony is there are so few women in our industry, but we think it’s such a perfect career for women because clients want people who can empathize with them, and women are natural nurturers and empathizers,” Turner pointed out.

“In addition, many people don’t understand that once you’ve established your practice, you can on- and off-ramp your career based on family, without leaving the workforce,” said Cregan.

MSSB’s Women’s Advisory Council has held a series of events to help attract women to the financial services industry, including sponsoring tables and inviting clients to the annual luncheon of the Women’s Resource Center of Houston, a group that provides financial               literacy education to under-privileged women. The Council is also the sole sponsor of the Women’s Resource Center Briefing Breakfast held in October. The event features keynote speaker Michael Stein, MSSB’s global head of government relations, who will present a Washington update on continuing budget talks.

MSSB also sponsored the Texas Southern University Women Rise Conference  – a conference with workshops led by professionals in health, wealth and education. Attended by more than 150 African-American women, the conference was designed to empower women and recognize 10 outstanding attendees for excellence in service to women and families. Another event partnered MSSB with the asset management firm Invesco Ltd. to create an educational and networking opportunity for all women advisors in Houston. MSSB also conducted a financial advisor training program with Guggenheim Funds called “The $14-Trillion Opportunity – The Essential Guide to Engaging the Female Client,” helping advisors better understand the nuances of the female investor.

“These events help educate people on how to approach women differently than men,” Cregan pointed out.

Cregan notes Wall Street as a whole has failed in trying to change its culture in a way that attracts women clients and advisors.

“Our firm has really taken the time to understand women by performing surveys and research,” she explained. “This, in an effort to understand what’s important to us from both an employee and client standpoint and what needs changing, so we are an attractive place for women clients and employees.”

Morgan Stanley Smith Barney, a global leader in wealth management, provides access to a wide range of products and services to individuals, businesses and institutions, including brokerage and investment advisory services, financial and wealth planning, credit and lending, cash management, annuities and insurance, retirement and trust services.