| McMurtry College | |
|---|---|
| Location | 1605 Rice Blvd., Houston, Texas, USA |
| Established | 2009 |
| Namesake | Burt and Deedee McMurtry |
| Colors | Royal Purple Silver |
| Masters | Karim Al-Zand, Dereth Phillips |
| President | Mason Sanders |
| Chief Justice | Alex Hilser |
| Membership | 420 (approximate) |
| Mascot | Bananas |
| Website | mcmurtry.rice.edu |
Burt and Deedee McMurtry College is the tenth college founded as part of Rice's residential college system. McMurtry College was named after Burt and Deedee McMurtry, graduates of the Rice class of 1956. Burt McMurtry was part of the student-faculty committee that evaluated the need for and eventually instituted the college system at Rice University, beginning in 1957 with the original five colleges. The College was conceived jointly with the adjacent Duncan College as part of Rice's Vision for the 2nd century, which includes plans to increase the size of the student body by 30%. The College opened its doors on August 16, 2009.
Despite its status as a young college, McMurtry has already established its own unique culture. During the Spring 2009 Beer Bike, McMurtry was christened in the Thresher newspaper as the "Mongol College," as it had not been finished at the time yet it was involved in pranks during Willy Week, and it could not be pranked by any other college as McMurtry wasn't complete. This was due to O-Week coordinators and advisers and co-advisers of McMurtry (chosen a semester ahead) showing their spirit for the upcoming new college. McMurtry has been assuming much of this "Mongol" culture by referring to the round commons as "Yurt," a name that also references the fact that, due to construction delays caused by Hurricane Ike, McMurtry was forced to use a tent as commons for weeks until the actual commons was completed.
The building was designed by Hopkins Architects, a leading English firm specializing in sustainable architecture. It offers 324 beds for student housing. The college is constructed as a single, squared-off horseshoe-shaped wing surrounding a central quad, rising to a height of five stories, dwarfing the nearby Martel and Jones Colleges. The college has double and single rooms that open directly out onto interior hallways, in contrast to the exterior hallways at Martel and Wiess, which were previously the two most recently renovated colleges. Common showers are located around the stairwells at each "elbow" in the building, and fully functional pod bathrooms are located in each double bedroom. The first floor contains classrooms, an off-campus lounge, other amenities, and the only circular commons on campus.
McMurtry College is across from Duncan Hall and the Inner Loop road. Duncan College is immediately north of it, connected to McMurtry by West Servery, which is parallel to Abercrombie Engineering Laboratory.
Read more about this topic: Residential Colleges Of Rice University
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