A Commitment to Community Brought Our Provost to Rice feat. Amy Dittmar

Owl Have You Know

From the president to the provost, a lot of people are working behind the scenes to make sure our university runs smoothly. As the Howard R. Hughes Provost of Rice University, Amy Dittmar oversees Rice’s academic enterprise, including direct reporting relationships for the deans of eight schools, the dean of undergraduates, the dean of graduate and postdoctoral studies and other key leaders.

With a focus on expanding opportunities for a growing student body and increasing faculty, Amy runs several capital projects to support the university’s research and educational mission. She is also a professor of finance at Rice Business and a professor of economics at the School of Social Sciences.

Amy joined host Scott Gale ’19 for a live event in McNair Hall to discuss her path to the higher ranks of academia, her vision for Rice’s future, continuing to foster the community Rice is known for, and how we can adapt and embrace new technologies.

Owl Have You Know is a production of REpisode Quotes:ice Business and is produced by University FM.

Episode Quotes:

Advice for prospective students looking into a career in research

25:14: [Scott] What kind of advice do you give to a prospective student that's thinking about kind of a research career? What does one look for as they sort of self-select into that kind of experience?

25:28: [Amy] I think you have to be pretty independently motivated. It is one of these things that you have to kind of have that self-drive. Though there's a lot of team science out there, it is often something you're doing harshly on your own. So, I think you have to kind of think about that, but I think that if you're someone who likes to deeply think about a problem for long periods of time, it's incredibly rewarding. There's other ways you can do it and have a more applied aspect to it as well. So, I think that's one piece, and it's a long road.

How Amy’s perspective and experience shape her views on key issues circling around academia?

13:28: To me, it's really important that I'm at a place that has excellence across the board. That it's not one school that's really wonderful, and then everybody else is kind of living in the shadow. Rice has a commitment to excellence across all the disciplines and that was important to me.

On planning for Rice’s future

21:15: Rice is just an amazing institution. So, I think being able to educate and impact more individuals is part of the mission. But to continue to do that, how Rice is. So, we're not looking to be thousands and thousands and thousands more. So, that's one piece. And the other is around excellence across the board. But I think there's some pockets that are just amazing excellence when it comes to especially research. And so, thinking about how we can enhance that even further. So, how we can take and build connections between schools.

Show Links:

• Transcript
  
  

Guest Profile:

• Amy Dittmar - Provost - Rice University | LinkedIn
• Office of Provost | Rice University

Check out this episode featuring Professor Anastasia Zavyalova here: https://business.rice.edu/owlhaveyouknow/season-3-episode-10