FRANK RHODES

1926 - 2020

RHODES--Frank H.T. Frank Harold Trevor Rhodes, who led Cornell University as its ninth president from 1977-1995 and was a national figure and influential voice in research and higher education for decades, died February 3, 2020, at age 93 in Bonita Springs, FL. Rhodes was born in Warwickshire, England, and was educated at the University of Birmingham, England, where he earned his bachelor's, doctor of science and doctor of philosophy degrees in geology. He taught at the University of Durham and the University of Wales, Swansea, was a visiting fellow of Trinity College, Oxford, and was an honorary fellow of Robinson College, Cambridge. In the U.S., as a Fulbright scholar, he taught at the University of Illinois and at Ohio State University as a National Science Foundation senior visiting research fellow. He joined the faculty at the University of Michigan in 1968 as a professor of geology and in 1971 became dean of Michigan's College of Literature, Science and the Arts. From 1974-1977, he served as Michigan's vice president for academic affairs. Rhodes was named Cornell University's ninth president in 1977, succeeding Dale Corson. At his inauguration ceremony on the Ithaca, New York, campus, he stressed four "reaffirmations" necessary to secure a healthy future for the university: the power of reason; the strength of community; the priority of research and teaching; and the importance of the wider partnership beyond the campus. During his 18-year tenure as president, Cornell saw significant growth in research and academic programs. Research funding more than tripled; major initiatives in astronomy, supercomputing, biotechnology, nanofabrication and Asian studies were established; a successful capital campaign was launched and completed; diversity at the university among students and faculty significantly increased; and the university's international presence was strengthened. He consistently stressed the importance of the role of teaching and instituted a policy that made evaluation of teaching an essential part of tenure review. Rhodes, known as an excellent and eloquent orator, quickly became a renowned advocate for higher education and research and played a significant role in shaping the development of national science policy. He spoke to the U.S. House of Rep- resentatives Committee on Science and Technology in 1984 about research as the foundation of national progress. In 1987, Rhodes was appointed by President Ronald Reagan to the National Science Board, which he also later chaired. In 1989, President George H.W. Bush named him to the President's Educational Policy Advisory Committee. Rhodes served as chairman of the governing boards of the American Council on Education, the Association of American Universities, and the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching. He also chaired the board of the Atlantic Philanthropies for eight years, helping to direct transformative philanthropy around the world on behalf of Cornellian Charles Feeney. He was chairman of the 1987 National Commission on Minority Participation in Education and American Life, which produced the report "One-Third of a Nation," and was a member of the Association of Governing Boards' 1996 Commission on Renewing the Academic Presidency and a member of the National Academy of Sciences' Commission on the Future of the Research University. Rhodes was a fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, served as a trustee of the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, was a member of the board of King Abdullah University for Science and Technology (KAUST), and was a member and past president of the American Philosophical Society. He held 35 honorary degrees and was the recipient of numerous awards, including the Bigsby Medal from the Geological Society and the Ian Campbell Medal of the American Geosciences Institute in recognition of singular performance in and contribution to the geoscience profession. When Rhodes retired as Cornell's president in 1995, he was the longest-serving Ivy League president and was particularly beloved by students and alumni. An annual alumni award was established in his honor in 1994, and a supercomputing theory center, built during his tenure, was named Frank H.T. Rhodes Hall when he stepped down. As a lifelong scholar, geologist and naturalist, Rhodes researched microfossils known as conodonts and helped explain the mass extinction that defined the end of the Paleozoic Era. He also contributed to a greater historical understanding of British naturalist and evolutionary scientist Charles Darwin (1809-1882), linking Darwin's early hands- on scientific work to his later evolutionary theory an interconnectedness that Rhodes' own scientific approach echoed. Rhodes' published a 1991 paper that marked the 150th anniversary of the publication of Darwin's first major scientific theory and tied Darwin's early geologic research on the formation of mountains and continental elevations to his later views on the origin of species. In retirement, Rhodes continued to be an influential voice on higher education policy and, as a professor emeritus of geological sciences, continued to research, travel, speak and publish. His books include "Language of the Earth," "The Evolution of Life," "The Creation of the Future: the Role of the American University," "Earth: A Tenant's Manual" and "Origins: The Search for Our Prehistoric Past." A 90th birthday symposium held on the Cornell campus in 2016 celebrated his academic impact. Rhodes is survived by his wife of 67 years, Rosa, four daughters, 11 grandchildren and one great-grand- daughter. A memorial service in Ithaca, New York, is planned for May.