Frye leaves memories of encouragement
By Tandra Gonzalez
Skiff Staff

Every week he writes a personal letter to his freshman English honors class, gets up at 4:30 a.m. to write encouraging comments on papers and has inspired students to succeed for more than 37 years. Care and commitment are two words which instantly come to mind when describing his attitude toward teaching.

Since 1966, Bob Frye has been a professor and mentor to English students at TCU. Frye will retire at the end of this school year. He has seen the campus change, survived the TCU flasher and even coached the first women’s basketball team.

He became interested in teaching English after studying under Sherman Brown Neff at Wayland Baptist College. A picture of Neff hangs on his office wall.

“He was just an inspirational person,” Frye said. “I think if he had been in history I would have gone in history.”

Neff helped him get a scholarship to Purdue University where he did one year of graduate work. He also served as a teaching assistant at the ripe age of 22. Neff helped him get a scholarship to the University of Tennessee at Knoxville, where he received his master’s degree and doctorate in English. Frye said Neff was an extraordinary scholar who was very supportive of his education.

After Tennessee, he went to a convention in Chicago, Ill., to interview for teaching positions, one of which was TCU. Today, he is still in the same office where he claims a few things have changed but his enthusiasm for teaching remains constant.

“Ever since I first stood in front of a freshman English composition class as a teaching assistant in English at Purdue University in the fall of 1961, I have considered teaching to be a privilege,” Frye said. “For me, teaching is a vocation, not a career, and I have considered my 36 plus years serving at TCU in my vocation to be a special privilege.”

Frye said he sees himself as an older student studying and learning with younger students. He said learning never stops and he has remained at TCU because of its “student-centered nature.”

The university is very focused on the students, Frye said. He said he likes the fact TCU is small enough for student-teacher accessibility yet large enough to be a research institution.

Frye has been here since the start of the Ph.D. program in English and endured many changes from the campus to academics. He said the campus has gone through enormous physical change. The one important change which concerns him is TCU has focused on co-curricular activities which used to be called extracurricular activities. These extracurricular activities, such as student government, were extra social activities and not part of central academics said Frye.

“Calling these activities co-curricular suggests they are equally important to the academic mission of the university and I agree that leadership, for example, is so important,” Frye said. “If we are going to have well informed, able, intelligent leaders, they need to think and study and learn as well as have some practical experience.”

Frye said he hopes the new chancellor will keep the university’s focus on academics.

He has made some changes of his own. This semester, Frye is supposed to be on leave but has continued working. He is still on dissertation committees, a sponsor of the English honors society and has submitted two proposals for papers this summer and fall.

He can also claim the title of vice president of the Western Social Science Association where he is coordinating a national student paper competition this spring. Frye also plans on teaching a mini-term this summer as well as becoming a part-time professor. He says even though he is supposed to be on leave, he is still busy writing and doing research.

“For me, retirement is a bittersweet experience,” Frye said. “I certainly miss already seeing my friends and colleagues, but most of all I miss the daily interaction with students.”

Frye plans to spend more time with his family, especially his grandchildren, during his retirement.

“Bob has made an impact on innumerable students’ lives,” said Linda Hughes, an English professor. “Many students from years past stay in touch with him and feel that study with him has been a highlight of their time at TCU.”

After he leaves, Frye hopes students will continue to take advantage of the opportunities here at TCU. He said if students apply themselves, they can move toward becoming an educated person.

“The opportunities for genuinely learning, not going through the motions, are here at TCU and students should take advantage of that,” he said.

Troy Davis took advantage of the opportunities here at TCU. He studied under Frye as an undergraduate and went on to get his doctorate in history from Marquette University.

Davis lists Frye in the acknowledgment section of his book “Dublin’s American Policy.” Troy’s words sum up the impact Frye has had on many students.

“I have to acknowledge the importance of Professor Bob Frye to my development as a scholar and writer,” He writes. “His words and example were often on my mind.

t.d.gonzalez@tcu.edu