Haitian American Reginald Des Roches is Rice University’s eighth president

Reginald DesRoches Makes History as College’s First Black President

Reginald DesRoches is Rice University’s eighth president. He also serves as a professor of civil and environmental engineering, and professor of mechanical engineering. As president, DesRoches serves as the chief executive officer of the university and its 7,500 students, eight schools and more than 700 faculty. He previously served as Rice's Howard Hughes Provost and William and Stephanie Sick Dean of Engineering.

DesRoches’ top priorities are to enable Rice to reach a new level of distinction nationally and internationally for impactful research, award-winning scholarship and insightful creative work. He also wants to build graduate programs that are of the same distinction as Rice’s top rated undergraduate programs while maintaining Rice’s commitment to diversity, equity, and inclusion.

During his tenure as provost, DesRoches led the university’s academic, research, scholarly and creative activities through the challenges posed by the COVID-19 pandemic, including the sudden suspension of classroom instruction and Rice’s successful conversion to remote learning. In addition, he dramatically increased the university’s research awards, launched several new centers and institutes, and forged new partnerships and programs with institutions and organizations in the Houston area, including the Texas Medical Center.

Above left to right: Rice University president Reginald DesRoches with family. Center: DesRoches and wife Paula at ‘An Evening in Rice’s Honor’.