‘$10 Changed My Life.’ How One Couple Is Changing the Lives of Stony Brook Students

Jim and Janice Rohlf have been connected to Stony Brook University for a combined 78 years, and they have been supporting students and programs for almost 40 years. Now, motivated by the New York state match and Simons Infinity Investment opportunities, they have established the F. James Rohlf Chair in Morphometrics — an area of study that is especially meaningful to Jim. Jim and Janice will be the first to tell you that they both came from humble beginnings, which inspired them to give back to the university where they met and still call home.

A Life-Changing $10

Janice Rohlf MA ’80, MSW ’89 grew up in Pennsylvania with limited financial resources. By the time she was a senior in high school, she was on her own, she said. Her guidance counselor encouraged her to go to college, giving her the $10 she needed to apply to East Stroudsburg University of Pennsylvania. “That $10 changed my life,” Janice said. She graduated with a teaching degree and moved to Long Island for a math teacher position. “I was recruited by the principal and his wife at Islip High School, who were graduates of East Stroudsburg,” she explained. When she married, Janice became a stay-at-home mother to her three children. After she and her husband divorced, Janice returned to the workforce and held several roles in Suffolk County government. 

In the late 1970s, at the encouragement of a colleague, Janice went back to school to earn her master’s degree in political science at Stony Brook. “Here I was, a single mom with three kids, working full time and getting a master’s degree,” said Janice. “The degree helped me advance in the Suffolk County executive’s office.” As she continued her education to earn her second master’s in social work, she assumed a temporary role within Government Relations at Stony Brook, which later turned into a full-time position until she retired in 2009. 

Following Opportunities

Jim Rohlf grew up on the other side of the country in San Diego. He and his family lived in a government housing project during his early years. As a child, he developed an interest in insects, which led to volunteer work at the San Diego Museum of Natural History in their entomology unit while he was in high school. His interests shifted when he started scuba diving. “I did a lot of scuba diving while an undergraduate at San Diego State University, and I expected to become a marine biologist,” said Jim. “I was a zoology major with a minor in both chemistry and math. Even though math then seemed to have no relevance to biology, I just found it fun.” During his senior year, Jim jumped at the opportunity for a research assistantship at the University of Kansas. “It was for a new field at the time — numerical taxonomy — and it involved computers, statistics and math,” said Jim. “It sounded interesting. And I knew I would need some sort of assistantship to be able to go to graduate school.” 

While at Kansas, Jim taught himself how to write computer software and eventually earned his PhD in entomology with an emphasis in — of course — mathematics. Afterward, he headed back to California as an assistant professor of biology at the University of California, Santa Barbara, and after a few years, he returned to the University of Kansas as an associate professor of statistical biology. 

Then along came Stony Brook, where he was recruited to help build the new Department of Ecology and Evolution. “For me, I just sort of went along and followed opportunities that looked interesting to me,” said Jim. “The chance to help build a new department at Stony Brook in 1968 seemed very appealing.” As he had throughout his career, Jim explored all his passions at Stony Brook — biology, computers, ecology and evolution. He retired in 2014 as a distinguished professor emeritus in ecology and evolution, and he is currently a research professor in anthropology. “I wanted to continue my research after retirement, and I found a new home within the anthropology department,” Jim said. 

A Lifelong Stony Brook Connection

In the early 1990s, an acquaintance of Janice knew Jim and thought the pair would make a great couple. “Jim actually waited a year to call me,” Janice said. Even after he finally called, it took a few more weeks to go on their first date due to their schedules. “He actually went to a conference at the University of Chicago and sent me a postcard while he was there, confirming the date and time of our date,” said Janice. “It seemed like he and I were very similar, and I thought we’d get along just fine.” The pair has been married for 26 years and has continued to support Stony Brook in different ways.

Throughout her tenure, Janice donated funds from each paycheck for political science and social welfare programs — and as her salary increased, so did her contributions. “Growing up, even though we didn’t have much, my family always helped out others who were less fortunate,” said Janice. “I ended up the recipient of a lot of wonderful contributions as well. So, the sense of giving back to others has always been a part of my life.”

Jim credits his philanthropy to Janice. “I had never really thought about giving back. I just saved my money and invested it,” said Jim. “When Janice told me she would give through her paycheck, I realized I could also give back to the university.”

Over the years, the Rohlfs have supported both undergraduate and graduate students within the ecology and evolution, anthropology and social welfare departments. In 2006, on Jim’s 70th birthday, the Rohlfs established the Rohlf Medal for Excellence in Morphometric Methods and Applications at Stony Brook. The award is presented every two years to distinguished researchers for their work on the development of new morphometric methods or for their applications in the biomedical sciences. Morphometrics is the quantitative analysis of biological forms, including the size and shape of organisms, organs and fossils. “The idea is to use statistics that capture the geometry or shape aspects of something,” said Jim. “It’s often used as a way of describing organisms to classify them or try to figure out the evolutionary history of them. There are also applications in medicine.” They also established the F. James Rohlf Endowed Graduate Fellowship in Anthropology to support graduate students beyond the four years that they can be supported by teaching assistantships.

Most recently, Jim and Janice established the endowed chair in morphometrics because they want to increase the strength and interest in the field. “Whoever fills this chair in the future could be more involved with advanced statistical methods as it relates to biology or anthropology,” said Jim. “My hope is that more people will study the field, and its methods will persist and evolve over time.” 

No matter what area of Stony Brook the Rohlfs support, they believe that supporting public higher education is important for the advancement of anyone who wouldn’t necessarily have the opportunities they had. “It’s not about legacy for us,” said Janice. “It’s about helping people from all walks of life to create a better future for the next generation.”

Funding for the F. James Rohlf Endowed Chair in Morphometrics is amplified by both the New York state endowment match program and the Simons Infinity Investment Match Challenge, which will triple the impact this endowment gift will have on Stony Brook. For more information, visit stonybrook.edu/endowments. If you have an interest in or questions about endowments or the match opportunities, contact Scott Barrett, interim vice president for advancement, at (631) 632-9128 or scott.barrett@stonybrook.edu.