Frank Tenney Stockton was born to Cyrus Jerome and Lucina Boles Stockton in Crawford County, Pennsylvania. In 1907, Stockton received a Bachelor of Arts degree from Allegheny College and in 1911, he received a doctorate in political economy from Johns Hopkins University.

Stockton worked as an instructor at the University of Rochester from 1911-1913 and an assistant professor of economics and sociology at Indiana University from 1913-1917. Stockton then became the dean of the College of Arts and Sciences and department head of Economics at the University of South Dakota from 1917-1924.

In 1924, Stockton became a professor and chairman in the Department of Economics and the first organizing dean of the School of Business at the University of Kansas (KU). During his time as dean, Stockton helped create curricula, specify requirements for admission and graduation, prepare general regulation, develop the Business Placement Bureau and the Bureau of Business Research, and secure a charter from Beta Gamma Sigma, a national honor society for schools of business.

In 1947, Stockton moved to be the first dean of University Extension. As dean of University Extension, Stockton helped to establish an extension center for southwest Kansas in 1951 and northwest Kansas in 1953. Stockton retired as dean in 1953 and became director of Special Projects at University Extension. In June 1957, Stockton retired as a faculty member from KU.

With his work at KU, Stockton also served on a number of state committees, including the Governor's Committee for Employment from 1931-1932, the Kansas State Economic Council and Governor's Committee on Self-Help in 1933, and the Kansas Unemployment Compensation Divison Advisory Council and the Employment Service and Unemployment Compensation Division examining board in 1937. He also served on the Missouri Valley Regional Planning Commission from 1941-1943, the Kansas State Chamber of Commerce from 1948-1951, and the Industrial Council of the State Chamber of Commerce. During this time, Stockton served as a supervisor of the Management Section of the Engineering, Science, and Management War Training Program from 1941-1945. In Lawrence, Kansas, Stockton was on the board of directors for the Lawrence Chamber of Commerce from 1941-1943 and a chairman for the Emergency Manpower Committee from 1944-1946.

At the national level, Stockton worked as a field staff member for the US Personnel Classification Board in 1928, a public member on the War Labor Board in 1944-1945, and as an alternate public member on the Wage Stabilization Board in 1952-1953. With his professional and public service work, Stockton was also an arbitrator in labor disputes and heard more than 50 labor arbitration cases involving companies such as Sheffield Steel, Boeing Airplane, Westinghouse, Fairbanks Morse, Continental Can, Eagle-Picher, Carey Salt, Great Lakes Pipe Line, Safeway, Kroger, and Sunshine Biscuits.

Stockton married Margaret Stansbury in 1917, and they had two sons, R. Stansbury Stockton and Philip J. Stockton. Frank T. Stockton died 19 June 1971.