The Ruth Lane Mathematics Society is named for Ruth Lane, a mathematics educator who worked at Sam from 1948 to 1966. She arrived at Sam Houston State from the University of Iowa. Dr. Lane was well known nationally in the field of mathematics education. She developed and ran the mathematics education program at SHSU for about her first 10 years at Sam. The department then added Dr. George Vick and Dr. Dan Reeves to its faculty. They then took over the running of the secondary education program, but Dr. Lane continued as the head of the elementary education program for her entire time at Sam Houston State.
Dr. Lane was active in the University Women's Forum. She was known to be a warm, energetic person dedicated to the teaching of mathematics, and is described by Dr. Max Coleman as "A very personable colleague with a deep concern for students."
Dr. Lane was probably best known among the students for her 100% tests. On these tests, she required her mathematics education majors to get 100% in order to pass the course. They covered fundamental concepts such as computations with fractions.