Alumni Association, 1958

The content is a collection of newsclippings about people, events, and activities associated with Rice from July 1955 to January 1959. The collection is dominated by coverage of athletic teams, games, engagements, and marriages, but the compilers were thorough in including a great deal that was covered about Rice in the newspapers.

Football Coach Jess Neely is featured repeatedly; Prof. Radoslav Tsanoff on the occasion of his last public lecture before retiring; Dorothy McGee (24) appointed assistant to the registrar, the first woman to hold this type of job at Rice; Paula Meredith (25) appointed advisor to women, taking over the position from Mrs. Arthur Kotch; Prof. Marcel J. Moraud, head of the Department of Romance Languages on the occasion of giving his last public lecture before retiring in 1956 after 31 years at Rice; the Ryba twins engaged to marry two Rice athletic stars; J. Newton Rayzor, member of the second graduating class of Rice and donor of the Rice chapel and Memorial Center; Mr. and Mrs. Jesse Jones giving $1 million to Rice for the building of the first women’s dormitory; Bo Hagan ap- pointed assistant football coach; George R. Brown honored as Houston Engi- neer of the Year; A. M. Tomforde (class of ’17; death)(past president of Rice Alumni Association; supporter of Rice athletics); Burton McMurtry (presi- dent of Rice Student Association and Rondelet king); Rep. Albert Thomas (class of ’20; running for re-election); S. G. McCann (death; dean of admissions and founding president of the Association of Rice Alumni); Charles Ives for scores of his presented to Fondren Library; Walter P. Moore (class of ’27, engineer for promi- nent Houston buildings); President William V. Houston featured as a “Titled Texan”; Assoc. Prof. of History Frank Vandiver on publication of Rebel Brass and Mighty Stonewall, awarded best book by a Texan; Harris Masterson, re- ceiving Rice degree in 1955 after two interruptions for military service; Arnold Toynbee, visiting professor of history Dec. 1, 1957 to Jan. 30, 1958; Mrs. A. D. (Sully) Alsobrook, assistant for academic publishing; Dr. E. O. Lovett (death Aug. 14,1957); President Houston, one of two scientists appointed to assist Senate subcommittee on the nation’s lagging missile and satellite program (following Sputnik); King Hill drafted by the Chicago Cardinals; Niels Bohr to address Rice Associates Dec. 17, 1957; Frank Ryan signing pro contract with the L.A. Rams; Wendel C. Ley (class of ’32), “Neighbor of Note”; Prof. George Williams on the publication of his book Some of My Best Friends Are Professors; Tony Martino (death Dec. 2, 1958).

Events of note covered in this scrapbook include announcement of design com- missioning for biology and geology buildings and auditorium (Aug. 29, 1955); con- struction of biology and geology buildings to start Sept. 23, 1956; beginning of a series of nine television programs, replacing the Sunday afternoon public lectures (which had been offered each year since 1912), scheduled for 7 PM the final Sunday of nine months; bell tower prank fatal to two Rice students from Houston; naming of five colleges for Mary Gibbs Jones, Capt. James A. Baker, William M. Rice, Jr., Harry C. Hanszen, and Harry C. Wiess; groundbreaking for Rice Memorial Chapel Nov. 10, 1957; largest attendance in history of Rice stadium, 72,000 at Nov. 16, 1957 football game of Rice against Texas A & M (which Rice won 7 to 6); opening of M. D. Anderson Biology Building Jan. 30, 1958; dedication of Hamman Hall (between acts of the faculty presentation of the Gilbert and Sullivan production Princess Ida) May 9, 1958; Rice computer construction beginning Sept. 11, 1958; dedication of Rice Memorial Center Nov. 8, 1958; installation of nuclear reactor in basement of chemical engineering building Nov. 22, 1958; first edition of The Journal of Southern History.

The following are the most noteworthy activities represented in this scrapbook: annual football game benefiting Holly Hall, Rice freshmen vs. Texas A & M fresh- men; annual homecoming banquet of the Rice Alumni Association, Nov. 4, 1955 (which honored Coach Jess Neely); the annual Rice Follies, “Tonight on T.V.” (to run two nights in the Bellaire H. S. auditorium); meeting of the Rice Institute Associates with Dr. W. F. Libby of the Atomic Energy Commission as speaker; annual Archi-Arts Ball with the theme “Milliareum Aureum” (cos- tumes of honorees represented countries of the Roman Empire); 15th Bien- nial Rice University Exposition for the public, demonstrating accomplishments in science, engineering, and the liberal arts (Apr. 27, 1956); Rondelet- May Fete May 5-6, 1956; commencement June 1, 1956 with speaker Dr. J. H. Van Vleck of Harvard on “The Age of Paradox”; 1956 annual homecoming dinner, at which honorees were Rice Professors Emeriti Marcel Moraud and Radoslav Tsanoff and Mrs. Jesse H. Jones; 1957 Archi-Arts Ball with the theme Kubla Kahn (Mongol Chinese emperor who ruled in fantasy over the imaginary pleasure kingdom of Xanadu); 1957 Rice Day on April 27, on which alumni competed in a “dress as you were” contest, the first prize going to Miss Sarah Lane in 1918 Women’s ROTC uniform; 1957 Rondolet (photograph of May Queens through the years); May 1, 1957 Rice Players presenting Shakespeare’s Merchant of Venice on the lawn between Lovett and the Physics Building; commencement May 31, 1957 with speaker Dr. Julius Adams Stratton, chancellor of M.I.T.; Archi-Arts Ball Feb. 15, 1958 with the theme Incubus (Nightmare); Rondelet May 2-4 1958; May 4, 1958 Shakespeare’s Macbeth presented by Rice Players on the lawn in front of Lovett Hall (no admission charge); Homecoming Nov. 7-8, 1958.