Meet the Coords
What is a Coordinator?
The three of us are your O-Week Coordinators, and we are part of the team of students working to make the Rice O-Week experience the best possible! Traditionally, each residential college has three student leaders called O-Week Coordinators who are selected to oversee the preparation and execution of O-Week for the college and contribute to the campus-wide components of orientation. We are three upperclassmen from Brown College, and we have been planning O-Week and eagerly anticipating your arrival since January. We have dedicated the majority of our spring semester and summer to planning a week that we hope will surpass your highest expectations.
We chose to do this job because we care deeply about our fantastic college Brown, we love Rice, and we appreciate O-Week’s ability to make a powerful difference in an incoming student’s life. Most importantly, we wanted to do everything possible to give you the foundation to make your Rice experience special, in a way only you can! Our main responsibilities as Coordinators are selecting the theme, selecting the Advising Team, planning events for DiscO-Week, reading your forms, matching you with your roommate, forming your groups, and ensuring that O-Week exceptionally prepares you for your journey at Rice.
Diane Moturi
Junior. She/her.
WHO’S THAT SINGING QUEEN I SEE? It’s none other than Diane Moturi! A hardworking bioengineering major hailing from Nairobi, Kenya (and Pennsylvania and New Jersey and sometimes Dallas), Diane is sure to get the groove on with her love of karaoke and musical theater! As an avid lover of Hamilton, you already know that Diane is not throwing away her shot…to be involved at Brown. Beyond being an O-Week Coordinator, Diane has been an Associate Justice, Sophomore Class Representative, O-Week Advisor, Beer Bike Chugger, and more. You can also always catch her at Executive Cabinet meetings because she loves being in the loop (not just the inner loop), so make sure to go say hi!
Outside of Brown, you can find Diane at the Bioengineering Research Collaborative, or BRC, where she researches how to make human cells last forever and also where she believes the best water on campus is located (specifically 4th floor). She has also been a First Generation, Low Income (FLI) ambassador for the past two years, and she loves being active in the FLI community at Rice and hosting events.
Even with her busy schedule, Diane will always make time for her friends. She is a great movie/TV show buddy, so if you need recommendations, want commentary on movies that are so bad they’re good, or someone to watch Love Island with you (this part is endorsed by Tinde and Emily), she’s your gal! She’s also always down to just hang out, go on a matcha or boba run, play a game of pickleball, or talk about the latest podcast she’s listening to. Diane’s also a serial crocheter, so if you want to get her excited, just mention new yarn. You might just find a new crochet buddy that way!
Diane’s favorite part about O-Week is how it can bring people together and demonstrate all the ways that Rice students care about each other (#CultureOfCare). She loves being able to meet all the New Students and welcome them into the Rice community, and she’s so excited to see how the experience is special and unique for each person. All in all, Diane is so much fun to be around and you all are so lucky to have her as one of your O-Week Coords! Get ready to groove to oblivion!
Tinde Koroma (Brown ‘26), Emily London (Brown ‘25)
Emily London
Senior. She/her.
Spotlight ON! Making her way to center-stage, boogieing and jamming to YMCA by Village People we have side-quester extraordinaire Emily London! Majoring in Social Policy Analysis and Linguistics while also pursuing a certificate in Certificate in Civic Leadership, Emily is an expert leader. So, you know your O-Week is in the very best hands (Tinde and Diane certified)!
Emily’s interest in urban planning adds an intriguing layer to her explorations around Houston. A big coffee fan, Emily will be on side quests near campus, often taking one step closer to her goal of visiting all the coffee shops in Houston. And of course, she’ll always keep track of each new place in one of the spreadsheets she always has on the ready. With a name like London and hailing from (near) Washington DC, specifically Bethesda, Maryland, you won’t be surprised to learn that Emily is a true woman of the world. When she isn’t galivanting to cools spots around Houston, Thailand or other parts of the globe, she’s is killing it at Brown Trivia, blowing her competition away with her superior ways and words.
Speaking of words, Emily is the queen of crossword puzzles and word hunts alike, so she might just destroy you in anagrams, crosswords, connections, squardle, duotrigordle, sudoku and tile, just to name a few. Don’t say we didn’t warn you! Emily also LOVES music, so you know any music recommendation she gives MUST be good. She also DJs for KTRU, our student run radio station, so she’s extra vetted. As if that didn’t make her cool enough, Emily is curator to an impressive 120-hour playlist on Spotify featuring every song she’s ever liked! So if you need a song for any type of mood, let Emily know, and you’ll get exactly what your ears and soul desire.
As a former New Student herself, Emily is so excited to be able give back to the Brown community by helping each New Student find their place. She hopes that you will all feel as welcome at Brown as we do! So, put on your dancing shoes and get ready to boogie with the amazing Emily London this O-Week!!
-Tinde Koroma (Brown ‘26) and Diane Moturi (Brown ‘26)
Tinde Koroma
Junior. She/her.
Speeding her bike down the inner loop, busting out a dance move at any given moment, or laughing at a joke that may or may not have even been funny, Tinde Koroma is THAT girl. You can catch her grooving her way down Sunset Boulevard with a pep in her step, headphones always on, nails done, with something purple on her at any given time. Tinde is a Junior from Brown majoring in Cognitive Science and Linguistics with a minor in Asian Studies. She’s a true woman of the world, and is heavily involved in cultural clubs such as Rice African Student Association, Vietnamese Student Association, Black Student Association, and Caribbean Student Society. Not just that but Tinde is also an MD in waiting so you just know she is one busy bee!
Tinde is also our favorite iPad kid, and she’s always has the perfect reference to a vine from 2015 for any situation. Make a Spongebob reference and she’ll be your friend forever. Her favorites include the Krusty Krab Pizza Song and “Is this the Krusty Krab? NO THIS IS PATRICK *hangs up the phone*”
When she’s not at Brown or the Rice Memorial Center running from meeting to meeting, Tinde can be found going out to eat. Hailing from the great city of Houston, or rather Alief, she knows all the best spots to eat given her love for trying foods from different cultures. Even better, if you need options for when you require a sweet treat in the form of boba or a smoothie, she’s got you covered!
Tinde is excited to be able to share the high-energy aspects of O-Week like the O-Week dance and Rice Rally, but also be able to answer any questions that New Students may have in order to positively shape someone’s experience. We’re so lucky to have her as an O-Week Coordinator this year, and we know her funky dance moves will get you as excited about O-Week as we are.
Diane Moturi (Brown ‘26), Emily London (Brown ‘25)