No one has ever inspired me to work harder in my life than Professor Jan Tullis. Her Structural Geology course in spring 2008 stretched my mind in a way no other educator had to date, or has since. I’m writing today to celebrate the remarkable career of Jan, who passed away on Sept. 15.
The most indelible image I have of Jan is her in her office in the GeoChem building. As I sit here now and write this from Oakland, California, I can picture looking down the hallway of the GeoChem building’s lower level and see her sitting there, and I can picture walking down George Street and seeing her through her window. She was so fundamentally present there — as if the enormous building was built to specifically host her in her office. It is an image that is a testament to her peerless commitment as a teacher and a member of the Brown community that stretches more than 50 years. Her dedication to teaching inspired generations of students to push themselves, as I did, to match her bottomless passion.
Jan, intentionally or not, cultivated a tradition in her office that showed her impact on decades of students. Every few weeks, a new photo would appear on her door (always open, of course) of an alum of the Geology department standing in front of some awesome geological structure. It was a rotating photojournal of folds, faults, volcanoes, glaciers, arches, peaks, and everything in between from every corner of Earth. Each of these photos were sent to Jan by her students and Jan displayed them proudly with a brief hand-inscribed note in her looping script highlighting the geologic process — and alum — in the photo. I’ve been sending Jan photographs of my outdoor adventures since I graduated in 2009, one link in a chain stretching back to 1971 when Jan became an assistant professor at Brown.
I first spoke to Jan a few weeks before I started at Brown. She cold-called my house to introduce herself as my soon-to-be-advisor and share her enthusiasm for my matriculation. That call was a harbinger of the relationship I had with Jan for almost twenty years. She was always engaged, always a resource and always available.
I last spoke with Jan this past spring, after she reached out to congratulate me on a work milestone: a land back project with the Yurok Tribe that I had posted about online. As always, she was incisive about my work, challenging in her follow-up questions and insistent that I return to Brown so that we could catch up.
Thank you for everything Jan — my love of my time at Brown is inextricably linked to my love for you and my gratitude for everything you gave to me and our school. Rest in peace.
Ben Friedman ’09 can be reached at b.friedman86@gmail.com. Please send responses to this op-ed to letters@browndailyherald.com and other op-eds to opinions@browndailyherald.com.
