Rachel has 20+ years of experience at Rice University with a progressive career in higher education administration, and promoted to department administrator in 2016. Rachel is responsible for the day-to-day operations of the department, managing faculty appointments and department staff.  She oversees the fiscal well-being of the department, and advises the department on matters of university policy and procedure.

Originally from rural Iowa, Rachel has been calling Houston home since 1995. She obtained a B.A. from the University of Iowa in 1993 majoring in English, weighting her studies in creative writing and poetry.  As an undergraduate student, she studied abroad in Iceland in an immersive Icelandic language and literature program, completing a senior thesis at the University of Iowa in modern Icelandic women’s authorship. Prior to moving to Houston, Rachel worked for Intrax, a non-profit foreign student exchange organization headquartered in San Francisco where she managed the individual homestay program. In 2005, she obtained an M.A. degree in cross-cultural studies at the University of Houston at Clear Lake.  Her graduate research focused on the relationship of media images and the U.S. - Mexico border and identity.

Outside the hedges of Rice, Rachel is dedicated to community service.  She worked with the Houston Gay and Lesbian Film Festival (QFEST) since 1999, and from 2012-2015 was an executive board member and officer (Treasurer).  From 1995-1998, she was a volunteer ESL teacher for Vietnamese refugees with a non-profit organization called R.D.I.

Rachel lives in North Houston where enjoys spending time with her pets and a variety of outdoor activities, travel, photography, film and art.  Rachel also loves hosting events for family and friends.  
 

Academic Publications:
"What Anthropology Can Contribute to the Construction of Nanotechnology Policy and Regulations." by Priscilla Weeks, Ph.D. and Rachel Boyle (Practicing Anthropology, Vol.28, No. 2., Spring 2006)