The days of standing in line to register for classes are over starting this fall. "Get Out of Line" is Computing and Networking's campaign to encourage students to use the World Wide Web (www.nmsu.edu) to register for classes and conduct other university business.

The photo shows students waiting in December 1971 to get pre-registration materials at Hadley Hall. Each student was issued a Time-To-Register card for registration beginning in January at the Pan American Center. Bill Diven, '76, a former Round Up photographer, snapped the line-up. Today, he's still shooting pictures, for KRQE-TV, the CBS affiliate in Albuquerque. Diven is married to Katy Clarke, a former NMSU reference librarian.

If you have historical photographs or other materials of university life, consider donating them to the University Archives at the NMSU Library. Call (505) 646-4727.

Pathfinders

Clemons is shining example of 'practice what you teach'

Photo by Matt Gray

	When Frankie Clemons joined NMSU's business college in 1971, she stepped into the classroom with a smile on her face. Previously, as a high school teacher in Las Cruces and in Texas, she felt she had to be a strict disciplinarian, but that role didn't fit her warm personality. At NMSU, Clemons moved up the ranks from instructor to associate professor and assistant dean of the College of Business Administration and Economics. What was her favorite part of the job? "The students," she says unequivocally.
Clemons

She retired from NMSU in 1993 but still hears from three or four former students a month. They call with news of promotions, to tell her they've decided to pursue doctorates, to ask for letters of reference, or simply to say hello. Students flooded her with condolence calls when her husband, earth sciences Professor Emeritus Russell Clemons, died in 1994.

NMSU alumna Dana Wallace-DeBeer, '80, '92, worked as a graduate assistant for Clemons. "Frankie is a great communicator and a superior listener," Wallace-DeBeer says. "She truly knew how to bring out the best in her students, people who worked for her and her fellow professors." Barbara Nelson, Clemons' secretary for 11 years, says the assistant dean was an exemplary mentor to students. "She encouraged them and helped them in any way she could."

Nelson says her boss treated employees who reported to her as co-workers, rather than subordinates. "She always made you feel good about yourself."

Clemons taught labor relations and communications courses in the management department. As assistant dean, she continued to teach communications courses, recruited students, supervised the college's advising center, and administered the Cooperative Education and Crimson Scholars programs. Each semester, she individually advised every Crimson Scholar. "I was a face students saw the whole time they were in college," Clemons says.

Crimson Scholars were some of the hardest working students she ever met, but some other students were "characters majoring in play," she says with a twinkle in her eye. Occasionally, she sees some of the "characters" around Las Cruces and says they're "doing fine." People throughout New Mexico know Frankie Clemons from the scores of free workshops and seminars she led on behalf of the business college. She gave up to 30 workshops a year for businesses, women's groups and state government agencies. Her repertoire included pointers on leadership and supervision, stress management, time management, identifying talent and nonverbal communication.

She advised women and men in business to shake hands firmly, dress professionally and clear the clutter out of their work spaces.

The workshops were especially in demand during the 1970s and '80s, when many people were being promoted without training, Clemons recalls. More women than ever before were becoming managers. "Women knew they had the ability but needed skills."

For years, Clemons has put her own skills to good use as a board member for such organizations as Sunwest Bank, Memorial Medical Center Foundation, Mesilla Valley Hospice, and the NMSU Foundation and President's Associates. Currently, she is board president for Jardin de Los Ninos, a day care center for homeless children. She also is on the New Mexico Supreme Court Disciplinary Board. Last year the Rotary Club of Las Cruces honored Clemons as one of five Paul Harris Fellows for her many contributions to the community.

Besides maintaining a full calendar of volunteer work, Clemons stays active by taking a daily morning walk and having fun with her three young grandchildren, who live in Albuquerque.

Even though she's no longer paid to do it, Clemons often finds herself telling people about the university's course offerings and services. "I'm still representing NMSU," she says.
Rita A. Popp,'93