Jane received a BA degree in chemistry from Bryn Mawr College in 1961 and a Masters in Teaching (MAT) degree from Harvard University in 1962. After teaching high school chemistry in Pearl River, NY, she attended Boston University where she obtained an MA in chemistry in 1968. Accompanying her husband to Oxford University for two years, she joined the biophysics research group of Nobel Laureate Prof. Dorothy Hodgkin and assisted in the atomic-level structural determination of insulin. Returning to the US, she worked briefly with Prof. Frederick Richards in the Department of Molecular Biophysics and Biochemistry at Yale University. In 1971, Jane began employment at the University of Connecticut as a Lecturer in Chemistry.

In our Department she supervised our undergraduate analytical chemistry laboratories, helping to write the department’s laboratory manual “Experiments in Analytical Chemistry” with an emphasis on electronics and instrumentation. She organized the Chemistry Olympiad for high school students in Connecticut and Massachusetts and later started a new course entitled “Chemistry for an Informed Electorate,” a longtime interest of hers. She served on several University policy committees, including on the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences (CLAS) Courses and Curriculum Committee. Jane was appointed an Assistant Dean in the Advisory Center of CLAS from 1992 to 1997, returning to the Chemistry Department from which she retired as Lecturer Emerita in 2003. In her retirement, Jane continued her involvement with the Connecticut Valley Section of the ACS where she championed the Chemistry Olympiad and engagement of high school teachers. She was also the driving force behind meetings of the emeritus faculty members in the Chemistry Department.

Many of you will remember Jane as an instructor dedicated to her students, holding all to a high standard. She was a true scholar — ever curious and interested in learning and exacting in all her activities. While she will be missed, her legacy of contributions to the Department and to the community will continue.

Contributions in Jane’s honor may be made to the Jorgensen JOY program through the University of Connecticut Foundation, 2390 Alumni Drive U-3206, Storrs, CT 06269. Online memories of Jane may be written at: https://www.potterfuneralhome.com/obituary/Jane-Knox.