Rice University and Lone Star College will celebrate the renewal of a memorandum of understanding (MOU) and signing of an articulation agreement April 12 to allow transfer students in LSC’s Take Flight Program to receive Rice credit for core science, technology, engineering and mathematics courses completed at Lone Star College. The event will take place from 2-2:30 p.m. in the Rice Founder’s Room in Lovett Hall.

WHAT: MOU signing ceremony between Rice University and Lone Star College to mark the renewal of the Take Flight STEM Pathway partnership and formalization of an agreement between Rice and Lone Star.

WHEN: 2-2:30 p.m. April 12

WHERE: Founders’ Room, Lovett Hall, Rice University, 6100 Main Street, Houston. (A map of campus is online at https://maps.rice.edu.)

Building on the innovative honors and undergraduate research program at LSC, the arrangement extends the partnership to increase the number of talented LSC honors students who go on to complete STEM degrees at four-year universities. It ensures that those who transfer to Rice are awarded Rice course credit for core science courses completed at LSC, which is key to transfer students’ timely progress to degree completion. The event will feature remarks from Take Flight students Alexis Lopez, Carlos Carreon and Jocel Angelo Reyes, who will discuss how the program has positively affected their undergraduate experience.

Established in September 2022 by Rice, LSC and San Jacinto College, Take Flight began to address the barriers that often prevent first-generation, low-income and historically excluded students from attaining a four-year degree in STEM, according to Rice’s Howard R. Hughes Provost Amy Dittmar, who will speak at the event.

“Despite this progress, important issues of equity remain locally and nationwide, especially around the transfer of credits from community colleges like LSC to four-year universities such as Rice,” Dittmar said. “The agreement is a positive step in the right direction when it comes to addressing these issues.”

LSC Vice Chancellor Dwight Smith III and Associate Vice Chancellor Katharine Caruso will also offer remarks at the event. Rice Senior Associate Provost Matthew Taylor, who created Take Flight with Caruso and Associate Vice Chancellor for Teaching and Learning Rachel Garcia of San Jacinto, will serve as host for the event.

Media interested in attending the event should contact Amy McCaig, senior media relations specialist at Rice, at 713-348-6777 or [email protected].