One of the first four original colleges created at Rice University in 1957 (Baker, Will Rice, and Wiess being the others), Hanszen College named for Harry Clay Hanszen, a local oil magnate and Rice Board of Trustee member. My nephew had the privilege of being its student during his 4 years at Rice, and the college sponsored a graduation reception for him and his college mates (along with friends/family), right before the campus wide graduation ceremony.
One funny thing was that the reception was advertised as having light snacks, but we found it ended up doing a full many-course spread of various foods, all made by the food staff of the college. I found it to be quite good. A champagne toast was given at the end, at which point the (soon-to-be) graduates left in their full regalia, to prepare for their march across campus to the stadium. I also thought providing unopened full size plastic bottles of water and Gatorade was really smart: not really to drink there, but more to keep hydrated in and out of the stadium since it was an expected hot and humid day.
This main dining hall, known as the 'commons', was built in 2002, acting as a sort of student union for its members. It was really nice that we had our first meal at Rice here, during my nephew's orientation and then our (most likely) last meal here right before his graduation. read more