Wiess College

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Harry Carothers Wiess College is one of nine residential colleges at Rice University in Houston, Texas.

History

Harry Carothers Wiess was a famed oil tycoon who founded Humble Oil, later Exxon. He died in 1948 and left money for the construction of a new dorm. Wiess opened the next year.

In 1957, Rice University implemented the Residential College System, as proposed by the university's first president, Edgar Odell Lovett. Wiess became Wiess College, and was joined by Will Rice, Hanszen, and Baker.

Old Wiess (1949-2002)

Todo: Fill in with info from history on teamwiess.com

Old Wiess was built from 1948-1949, and was leveled to the ground during the winter break between Fall 2002 and Spring 2003.

The residential hall was laid out in the shape of the letter E. It was two stories high except for the three story center wing. Like a cheap motel, each room opened to an exterior walkway. Consequently, Wiess life focused on the outdoors. The main quad was the original acabowl. It featured volleyball games, frisbee throwing, and beer team practices. After a hard rain the Wiessmen would run and slide down a muddy track, a practice called "zip sledding". Periodically a few residents would use rubber tubing and a couple of strong bodies to create a "gezilcher" catapult for launching water balloons at Hanszen College, the grotesque erection next door. Wiessmen punished someone for real or imagined infractions by dangling them upside-down from the balconies.

The "backabowl" was the quad on the other side of the center wing. Not facing the center wing balconies, the backabowl was much more sedate.

In the mid-1970s, Wiess College renovated and expanded the commons area. Wiess undergraduate architectural students Tim "Frog" Barry and Dan Canty designed the new commons for a class project.

New Wiess (2002-)

The new Wiess building opened in the fall of 2002. It features a larger acabowl, four floors, large rooms, a glass commons, and a terrace (called the "acaterrace") and servery which are shared with Hanszen. The rooms are primarily grouped into four person suites, which include either four singles or two doubles, a common room, and a bathroom. The west side (twenties wing) features three three-person rooms ("three-mans") which include larger singles, but no common room. The east side (forties wing) features three five-person rooms ("five-mans") which include three singles and a double.

Other special rooms include the game room, movie room, second- and third-floor kitchens, visiting professor suite, computer lab, dance room, and O/C (off campus) lounge.

Masters

Wiess has had several Masters in its history:

1957-?	Roy Talmadge (first master of Wiess College)	...	...
1970-1975	Lea Rudee
1975-1980	Stewart Baker
...	...
198?-1988	Joan ???
1989-1994	George Pharr (Wiess 1975)
1994-2001	The Hutchinsons
2001-2006	Dan Kalb and Katherine Donato
2006-	Michael Gustin

Wiess Traditions

As one of the original four colleges, Wiess has a number of traditions which distinguish it.

Powderpuff Football

The Wiess Battlesows have achieved tremendous success in powderpuff (women's) IM flag football. The Battlesows won championships in 1992, 1993, 1994, 1995, 1998, 1999, 2001, and 2002. Eddie Goodreau is the head coach this year.

Tabletop

Wiess performs all of its plays and musicals on top of the cafeteria tables, and thus its name, Tabletop theater.

Each year, Wiess puts on the Freshman One-Acts, a Fall Play, and a Spring Musical.

In 1964, Wiessman George Greanias wrote a complete musical, "Hello Hamlet," spoofing Shakespeare. It has been performed once every four years ever since. The most recent production was in Spring 2004. Greanias later had an active career in Houston city politics.

The Five-Man

At old Wiess, the five-man was a four-person room with five people living in it. The money saved on housing would be used to host parties.

At new Wiess, the five-man was institutionalized. There are three five-person rooms: 245, 345, and 445. This hasn't stopped the Wiessmen though. The five-man has effectively become a six-man, though it's still called the five-man. A "five-man" usually refers to one of these six-person rooms, rather than one of the five-person room. There were five-mans in 1985-1987, 2002-2003 and 2004-2005.

College Night

Every Residential College holds a college night at Willy's pub, but only Wiess holds theirs on the last day of classes.

Jamfest

An all-day concert held every spring. In 2002 and 2003, it was headlined by Bowling for Soup.

Jazz Night

Held on the terrace every spring, Jazz Night features four hours of live jazz and refreshments.

O-Week

A period of orientation for new students, who are broken up into small groups.

External links

• [Wiess College Website]
• [Wiess College History]

[http://encycl.opentopia.com/ edit ]	Rice University Residential Colleges
Baker College | Brown College | Hanszen College | Jones College | Lovett College | Martel College | Sid Richardson College | Wiess College | Will Rice College

 

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