Fall 1997

Sue May retires after 31 years of service

Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology Registrar Lou Harmening interviewed four finalists this spring to fill Sue May’s position as assistant registrar. "We may have to hire all four to replace Sue," Harmening quipped.

Modestly, May shrugs off such talk. "Nobody is irreplaceable," she says.

Maybe not, but few people have had an impact on the academic careers of Rose-Hulman students more than May during the past 31 years. (May is leaving in early September after helping register freshman students for the fall quarter.)

May has helped students register for classes each quarter; processed midterm and final grades; scheduled quarterly final exams; maintained students’ academic files; and kept the daily schedule of classes in each academic classroom on campus.

However, most importantly to Rose-Hulman alumni, May was the person that made sure there was a diploma waiting for each graduate at commencement.

Now, you know what Harmening was talking about!

"It’s been a labor of love for me. I’ve loved coming to work every day," said May, who originally worked as a secretary to Irv Hooper in the Business Office prior to moving over to the Registrar’s Office 28 years ago. "There’s an adventure around every corner at Rose-Hulman."

The toughest challenge comes at the start of each school year when freshmen register for their first classes at Rose-Hulman. It requires nearly a 24-hour sacrifice -- registration begins Wednesday morning; schedules are finalized in the afternoon; reports are processed in the early evening; and the finalized schedules are available in the mailboxes of students and faculty by the start of classes at 8 a.m. Thursday.

"We perform miracles," May said. "Sure, it’s painstaking and tiring. But it’s important to our students and their parents. And, that’s what Rose-Hulman is all about -- our students."

Other challenges come at the conclusion of each quarter, when the three-person staff in the registrar’s office records and reports final grades for more than 1,500 undergraduate and graduate students. Professors bring the grades to the office by 9 a.m. on the Monday following the conclusion of final exams. Grades are processed and mailed to each student by 6 p.m. -- the same day.

"We’ve processed grades on time 162 times in a row without a hitch. That’s a remarkable tribute to Sue’s dedication to Rose-Hulman," Harmening said

by Dale Long