‘He makes me want to learn more math’: Frank Jones reflects on retirement

By Noa Berz     3/11/25 10:30pm

Some things happen for a reason — math professor Frank Jones’ life is perhaps a testament to that very idea. Born in Amarillo, Texas, Jones came from a family of dentists and transferred to Rice in his sophomore year to study chemical engineering. 

He said he was always partial to math but didn’t feel confident in his abilities until former Rice math professor Jim Douglas Jr. encouraged him to pursue it during his senior year.

“I owe [Douglas] so much,” said Jones, the Noah Harding Professor of Mathematics. “It was a godsend, really. He changed my life.”

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Jones returned as a professor in 1962 after finishing his Ph.D. at Rice, and he hasn’t left since. Retiring at the end of this year, Jones has left a mark on countless students, from prize-winning mathematicians to students who majored in something else entirely. 

Will Rice College freshman Aolun Wanyan said he intended to major in astrophysics when he matriculated. 

An international student from China, Aolun said his high school teachers and curriculum discouraged him from pursuing math, but that changed when he took Jones’ multivariable calculus class this past fall.

“He’s currently my favorite professor at Rice because he’s just so supportive,” Wanyan said. “He makes me want to learn more math, and he makes me more confident when I see a problem.”

With Jones, Aolun said he’s just as comfortable discussing family as he is talking math — and he’s not the only one who feels this way. Martel College senior Emily Reeves also said she admires his dedication to each of his students as well as his regard for their lives beyond the classroom. 

“Sometimes there’s questions that I could work through myself, but it’d be more interesting, more effective, more efficient to talk through with Frank,” Reeves said. (Jones prefers his students address him by his first name). “We have a good balance of talking about math and also engaging on a personal level.”

Reeves spent the summer after her junior year in an independent study with Jones to supplement credits that didn’t transfer from her studies abroad. Despite having never taken a class with him, she said he was eager to offer her help. 

Jones has won the alumni-voted George R. Brown Award for Superior Teaching six times — so many times, he’s no longer eligible. 

Jones has also won two student-selected Nicholas Salgo Distinguished Teacher Awards and in 2007 was named Texas Professor of the Year by the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching and the Council for Advancement and Support of Education. 

Lifelong colleague and racquetball partner Dennis Huston said Jones’ many accolades came as no surprise to him. As a former magister at Hanszen College, Huston said he encouraged students to take Jones’ math classes, including some of his English students. Huston said he learned a lot from Jones, though they taught different subjects.

“What I learned from Frank about teaching was how much you have to care about your students to get them to do their best work,” said Huston, the Gladys Louise Fox Professor Emeritus of English. “​​I had students who absolutely loved him.”

For years, Jones and Huston joined professors emeritae Allen Matusow and Deborah Harter on the Rice Recreation Center’s racquetball courts every week to play doubles. Huston said he admired Jones’ cool on the courts.

“I tried really hard not to swear when I played with Frank because he was so wonderfully controlled,” Huston said. “He never seemed to be bothered by something that happened on the court, which sometimes bothered me.”

Jones said he still remembers the first time he played with Harter. They’ve stayed close ever since.  

“We entered an intramural tournament, [Harter] and I, for mixed doubles … and we won it,” Jones said. “We’re still good friends, but neither of us plays racquetball anymore.”

Harter said she values Jones as a close friend and role model, passionate and dedicated to all that he does.  

“His love of teaching is infectious,” said Harter, an associate professor emerita in French Studies. “If you are not spending time on your teaching, you’re going to want to.” 

In addition to his tenure as a Rice professor, Jones is a Bible teacher at Bethel Church of Houston. He said he doesn’t consider himself religious but still feels a strong connection to his faith. 

“Religion gives you ideas of how you can improve and be accepted to God,” Jones said. “The Bible is the other way around, and God takes the initiative to search for us. 

“The more I read and study the Bible, the more I feel like I’m in love with Jesus,” Jones continued. 

Jones cites a passage from Matthew 10:25 suggesting students to “be like their teachers” for why he writes his own textbooks and hosts extensive office hours. 

Like Jones, former student Dennis Sullivan ’63 said he entered Rice as a chemical engineer and switched to math at the advice of his professor. Despite getting a D in his first class with him, Sullivan credits Jones for motivating his later success in mathematics. 

“[The change to math] was confirmed by getting to know Frank,” wrote Sullivan, the 2022 Abel Prize Laureate, in an email to the Thresher. “His friendly and optimistic personality, combined with a quality of mind that inspired emulation.”

Sullivan received the Abel Prize, one of the most prestigious awards in mathematics, for his work studying topology with applications to understanding hurricane and air pollutant movements.

Harter, who considers herself “not religious at all,” said that she and Jones often do not see eye to eye on things, but that their friendship has stayed strong regardless. She said Jones is not one to shy away from an argument.  

“His beliefs and mine couldn't be more different,” Harter said. “[He is] as interested in disagreeing as [he is] agreeing.”

After he steps down, Jones said he looks forward to continuing his classes at Bethel and spending time with family. His son, David Jones ’90, is a math professor at Johnson County Community College in Overland Park, Kan., and his grandson will enter Rice next fall.

“It's easy to be committed to Rice because Rice does so much for me,” Jones said. “Rice committed to me. I’m just totally thankful.”

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