Martel College
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Martel College is one of the nine residential colleges at Rice University in Houston, Texas. Martel College was created through a donation from, and named after, the Speros Martel foundation, a longtime benefactor of Rice University. Martel is located on the north side of campus, sharing the North Servery with Brown College and Jones College. Martel's crest contains elements of the Greek flag, along with the traditional Rice University owl symbol, and the initals 'MC'. Martel's current masters are Michelle Mc'Cormick and Jerry Dickens.
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[edit] Speros Martel
In 1998, the Marian and Speros Martel Foundation, a long-time benefactor of Rice, donated a $15 million gift to the university. Under the Rice: The Next Century initiative, part of the donation was earmarked for the construction of a new residential college.
During the 1940s, the Martels lived only a short distance from Rice, just north of campus on Main Street. Speros Martel left his home in Athens, Greece to study in France at the same time that the first ever Rice Institute students were matriculating in 1912. However, the adventuresome Speros enlisted as a cabin boy on a ship bound for New York, surviving his first few years in his new country as a Wall Street messenger and selling newspapers and flowers on the streets until he had saved enough money to open a restaurant in Buffalo, New York.
Martel then moved to Houston, where he lived at Camp Logan during World War I. He became a waiter at the Rice Hotel, which was first owned by William Marsh Rice and then the Rice Institute once the war was over. Martel was then able to open a restaurant of his own a block away from the hotel, and then set up other restaurants along Main Street.
As a result of his adventurous behavior, Martel had little formal education. However, he had learned to speak five languages through his travels abroad, and this combined with his entrepeneurial skills allowed him to become a successful businessman. He invested in land, stocks, bonds, and eventually made friends with fellow Houston businessmen George R. Brown and Jesse H. Jones. Martel and Jones would often attend Rice football games together.
Martel wed Marian Fox Twyman in 1932. She was daughter of another prominent Houston businessman, Henry Fox Sr. When she passed away in 1956, her will endowed four chairs to the university, in honor of each of her parents; her first husband, William Gaines Twyman; and her sister, Gladys Louise Fox.
[edit] History of Martel College
That same year as Marian's death, the ‘’’Marian and Speros Martel Foundation’’’ was established. It has since supported a variety of philanthropic causes, including cancer research, the Houston Symphony, the Houston Holocaust Museum, and Project GRAD, a nonprofit organization that aims to increase the graduation and college attendance rates of inner-city students.
The official groundbreaking of the new Martel College took place on April 10, 2000; among those attending were the newly instated Martel Masters Joan and Arthur Few, who had previously been Masters at Baker College from 1994 to 1999.
Applications for Martel’s founding committee went out in September of 2000; two students from each of the original eight residential colleges were selected. Martel's first parliament was elected with then-junior Alice Hill as president. Maria Byrne, who had worked with Arthur Few in the Space Physics and Astronomy Department, became the first Martel College coordinator.
The first new students accepted as members of Martel had to live off campus during the fall 2001 semester until completion of construction, scheduled for early 2002. However, in June of 2002 Tropical Storm Allison struck the Houston area, causing an estimated $4.88 billion in damage. Due to heavy flooding, construction was delayed by two months.
Rice administration allowed students several options to combat the delay, including remaining in their current housing, living on-campus with a friend throught the Adopt-a-Martelian scheme, or even reside at the Warwick, the same hotel Speros and Marian Martel called their home more than half a century earlier.
Applications for freshman transfers were made available in October of 2002. Sixty-three freshman were accepted, five each from Brown and Jones Colleges, and up to 12 from each of the other colleges. Martel members named physics instructor Gary Morris and intramural sports director Tina Villard as Martel's first resident associates.
In 2006, Martel’s first ever class graduated. In 2010 the college will cease to be the newest of Rice’s residential colleges as McMurty and an as-yet-unnamed college are completed and begin to receive new undergraduates.
[edit] Architecture
The architect for Martel's buildings was Michael Graves. Martel was constructed in what used to be Jones College's 'backyard'. The structure is in the shape of the outline of a square, centered around a large tree which now dominates the 'quad' area. At one end of the single, four-story wing are several stacked round rooms called the rotunda. It contains common areas, the game room, the video room, bathrooms, and co-ordinator's office. Connected to the rotunda is the large, cathedral-like Commons, which serves as a cafeteria, meeting room, and auditorium, among other functions. It is the heart of the residential college experience at Rice University.
Martel is also the only college to feature a Sally Port in its construction; newly matriculated students traditionally walk through it passing a torch between themselves as the final step to becoming new Martelians.
[edit] Intercollege Rivalry
Rivalries are common among the residential colleges at Rice University; Martel's relative youth compared to the other colleges means that it lacked some of the more established traditions of colleges such as Baker or Will Rice, but it has quickly come of age and now has almost as many quirks and traditions as the older colleges. Martel is still the butt of jokes regarding its newness; "Martel is not a College! Martel is not a College!" is an anti-Martel cheer commonly used by members of all the other residential colleges. Martelians will often chant, "Your mom is not a college!" or more derogatory words to that effect in response. Due to the fact that a disproportionate number of Martel's first residents had departed from Will Rice College, Martel was also given the nickname 'Will Rice's penal colony'.
Martel's traditions include playing mud soccer when a torrential Houston downpour turns the central quad into a giant puddle; butt-writing during Orientation week when freshmen or advisors forget to wear their name buttons; a scavenger hunt, and the closely-guarded secret 'Maptek' activity. In December, there is a massive decorating contest, in which each of Martel's four floors try to best each other's holiday decorations.
[edit] External links
[edit] Contact Information
99 Sunset Blvd. Houston, TX 77005 713-348-4944
