Andy Osborn joined Rice and the Provost’s Office team as program manager of educational initiatives in February 2024. As part of the Office of Strategic and Educational Initiatives, he supports many ongoing projects related to expanding and enhancing the Rice student experience. Current efforts of the OSEI include leading the implementation of the recommendations of the Provost’s Task Force for Student Success; developing and managing equity and access-oriented partnerships with community colleges; and developing, coordinating, and evaluating efforts to scale and expand equitable access to and participation in research, civic engagement and global experiences.

In addition to supporting these OSEI projects, Andy serves as a primary collaborator and connector for the Moody Fund for Student Opportunity, which promises to greatly expand students’ abilities to take part in enriching experiences outside of the classroom. His work coordinates the impact of this historic gift among numerous campus partners to ensure that all Rice students have unprecedented opportunities for civic leadership/engagement, research experiences, creative endeavors, multicultural programs, athletic achievements and much more.

Andy discovered the transformative power of higher education during his own undergraduate experience at a small liberal arts college and has gone on to serve in a variety of roles at a number of institutions. He started his career in higher education as an admissions counselor at Centenary College of Louisiana (his alma mater) and also worked in the Louisiana State University-Shreveport Admissions Office before deciding to pursue a master’s degree in higher education from the Harvard Graduate School of Education. More recently, he served as the recruiting and outreach manager in the LSU College of Engineering and as associate director of graduate studies in the College of Humanities and Social Sciences at the University of Houston-Downtown.

In all of these roles, he has sought out new projects and programs with a focus on student-centered service, collaboration, strategic thinking and creativity. A few of his favorite projects were serving as co-chair of the UHD CHSS Strategic Plan Steering Committee, providing summer research and residential camp experiences for high school students, creating and coordinating robust in-person and virtual events/tours for prospective students/families and administering scholarship programs for undergraduate and graduate students.