John B. Boles '65 William P. Hobby Professor of History Managing Editor, Journal of Southern History "University Builder: Edgar Odell Lovett and the Founding of the Rice Institute"

The original Rice charter of 1891 was a vague document, with no clear purpose, and the Board of Trustees also had only a vague idea of what should be done. Wisely they chose Edgar Odell Lovett of Princeton to be the first president with the precise instruction of helping them visualize the kind of institution Rice should be. Lovett's impressive educational background, the variety of his teaching experiences, and his one-of-a-kind academic tour of the world helped him to construct an ambitious, all-encompassing vision for the new university that still shapes the character and direction of the university almost a century later.

In University Builder: Edgar Odell Lovett and the Founding of the Rice Institute, Rice professor John Boles tells how Lovett came to Rice and set the institute into motion. Join alumni and friends around the country to learn more about the unique beginning of our alma mater. Discounted copies of University Builder will be available for pre-order to Rice alumni for only $20 (regularly $35) when attending a regional alumni lecture.

John B. Boles is the William P. Hobby Professor of History and the managing editor of the Journal of Southern History. He graduated from Rice in 1965 and is the father of two Rice graduates. He has written or edited 20 books and has lectured widely on Southern history and the history of Rice. Boles is a popular teacher and has won a number of teaching prizes, including the George R. Brown Award for Superior Teaching in 2006. In 2004, he was honored with the Rice University Distinguished Alumni Award.