About Rice University
What is Rice University?
Rice University is a private research university in Houston, Texas, opened as the Rice Institute in October 1912. Rice describes its home as "a 300-acre forested campus in Houston, Texas," an unusually green setting inside a major American city. It runs schools of "architecture, business, continuing studies, engineering and computing, humanities, music, natural sciences and social sciences," and organises undergraduate life around 11 residential colleges that students belong to for the whole of their degree.
Where will I work?
Staff roles are based on the Houston campus, with formal flexibility available on top. Rice's Flexible Work Policy (Policy 440, effective 8 November 2021) names three arrangements for benefits-eligible staff. A Compressed Workweek is "A weekly full-time work schedule of 40 hours, but completed in fewer than five full workdays." Remote Work covers "An employee routinely working one or more days per week at a location that is not the campus or regularly designated work location." An Alternative Work Schedule "allows the employee to adjust their arrival and departure times around a core set of hours, but does not alter the total hours worked per week." Requests need "advance approval by the immediate supervisor, department, and school/division" and run "on a trial basis for up to three months" before review.
What is the Rice University team like?
Rice lists 749 full-time and 147 part-time faculty members, supported by a staff body of roughly 4,500 across academic departments, research centres, libraries, IT, finance, facilities and student services. Roles posted on Rice's careers system are mostly professional, technical and administrative rather than academic.
Work-Life Balance
The compressed workweek redistributes a 40-hour week across fewer days rather than reducing hours, so it changes the shape of the week, not the amount of work in it. Around it, Rice grants paid time off usable "for any reason, including vacation, personal business, illness, or religious holidays" — 168 hours, or 21 days, a year up to ten years of service, rising to 208 hours, or 26 days, beyond that. The holiday calendar adds a paid Winter Recess between Christmas and New Year. Paid parental leave runs to "eight weeks of leave for eligible staff whose children are born or adopted on July 1, 2024, or after," and Rice is explicit that "Both the birth/adoptive parents are eligible for the PPL, even if they both work at Rice."
Perks and Benefits
- Rice pays 7% of salary into the 401(a) Rice Retirement Plan below the Social Security Wage Base, 10% from age 50, plus 5% on pay above it. No employee contribution is required; you vest after three years.
- Tuition waiver and course auditing at Rice, tuition reimbursement for outside study, and undergraduate tuition remission for eligible dependents at Rice, Trinity University and Austin College.
- Eight weeks of paid parental leave, open to both parents.
- 21 to 26 days of paid time off a year, plus the paid Winter Recess closure.
- Aetna medical, dental and vision cover, with prescription drugs on all medical plans.
- Rice Children's Campus on site, plus Bright Horizons back-up care.
- SupportLinc employee assistance programme offering "up to ten (10) sessions of face-to-face counseling."