Despite his departure from campus in 1916, Huxley’s heart remained with Rice over the years. He eagerly followed updates on football games and college antics, including the saga of the missing and found Sammy mascot, of which he received stories from his former colleagues. Huxley’s connection to the Institute was so strong that he even requested that copies of The Rice Thresher, the campus newspaper, be sent to him in Europe.

Perhaps the best evidence of his continued connection with the University was his gift of an Athenian drachma coin, which he gifted to Lovett to display in the Administration Building. Upon seeing it, this coin reminded Huxley of the Rice mascot, as the owl’s design had been based on the owl of Athena pictured on such coins. Therefore, Huxley purchased the coin in Padua, Italy, and sent it to Rice.

Additionally, he would also return in 1924 to deliver a series of guest lectures, announced under the Thresher Headline “Former Prof is Back Home: Julian Huxley Resembles the Prince of Wales,” where he is described as the former “big boss in the biology department.” He returned once again in 1930 to lecture on the subject “Travels and Politics in Africa,” presenting to a full house of around 400 attendees, the largest lecture attendance of the year. He returned for one last time in 1954 to lecture about “The Evolutionary Process and Man’s Place in It” in Fondren Library, once again attracting an overflowing crowd of approximately 450 attendees. Thus, Rice reciprocated in turn for all his interest in remaining connected to Rice over the years, with scores of attendees attending his lectures even years after he had left campus.

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