Rupp, Joy A. - Early History of Rose State by a Charter Employee
Joy Rupp: Rose State College
Interviewed by: Alan Neitzel
Interview date: December 8, 2004
Q: Let me first introduce who I am. My name is Alan Neitzel and today is December 8, 2004. And I am meeting with Joy Rupp, who is the Executive Director for Human Resources Development at Rose State College. And I’m interviewing Joy today because she is one of our college’s charter member who’s been at the college since 1970 – one of three that are still currently working at Rose State. And, Joy before we begin, would their be any other names that you might be known by here at the college?
A: No, just Joy Rupp.
Q: Joy Rupp, OK.
A: Joy A. Rupp. (laughing) “A” – middle initial.
Q: Now here’s the hard question.
A: All right.
Q: What other positions and responsibilities other than your current one have you held here at the college?
A: That really isn’t hard, Alan, because I came on board June 1, 1970 as Chairman of the Business Division. And I chaired the Business Division until 1986 and I moved from the Business Division – Chairman of the Business Division – over to Director of Personnel Services.
Q: Chairman of the business – would that be considered the dean, then?
A: That is the same as the dean. We are - they’re called deans now. Correct.
Q: And at that time, were other colleges calling them Chairman or was that just something . . .
A: Community colleges, for the most part, called them Chairman.
Q: OK. And you were personnel director at one time?
A: 1986. I came over. It was after Dr. Helen Carter retired. And I took her place. And that was at a time that there was a lot going on at the institution and I moved over from the Chairman of the Business Division to the Director of Personnel Services. I stayed in that capacity until we added also an Affirmative Action officer. Then I became Executive Director of Human Resources, and then Executive Director of Human Resources Development.
Q: And you were also the Affirmative Action officer at one time, were you?
A: Yes. That was in connection with personnel.
Q: OK. Have you enjoyed working?
A: Oh, absolutely.
Q: OK.
A: And as far knowing which – they’re all unique in their own direction. And in all of those positions – as Chair of the Business Division, of course, I recommended faculty, worked with interviewing, finding the right faculty for the right positions that we had. Then when I moved over to personnel, that was just a continuation except at a broader level. At that time we brought in to the campus – hired our own maintenance – we had contracted out before. And hired our own people in our Student Center. And so, it was just a broader aspect of looking for the right people for the right jobs.
Q: Now, you started as the chairman for the Business Division?
A: Correct.
Q: So, how did you get your position? How did you know about Rose State?
A: Well, that was really interesting. In the fall of ’69, Victor Van Hook, who was vocational education for the State of Oklahoma – worked under Francis Tuttle established a Cooperative Office Education classes in the high school. And I should say he did that in 1965 with the Vocational Education Act. And I was teaching at Capitol Hill High School. . .
Q: Oh, really?
A: . . .in vocational education. Cooperative Office Education was the new COE program. And so Vic was our state supervisor over that vocational education at the high school level. Then I left Capitol Hill and was an instructor at OU while I was doing my final coursework and was teaching there at the University of Oklahoma in the college of education. Vic Van Hook called me and said “Oscar Rose Junior College is in the legislature now and it’s really coming along, and you want to keep your eye on that.” And, then, I got a call from Jacob Johnson, who was our first president of Oscar Rose Junior College, in the fall 1969, and he asked me to come up for an interview for the chairmanship of the Business Division. And we talked and I had plans to go to Chicago in February. I had an interview that I was going to meet there. And Jacob Johnson just asked one question. He said, “Before you make any decisions I want you to come up and talk with me again.” Well, in the – right after January first I had a call from Jacob Johnson. He said, “It’s time for you to come up again.” And so I came up and interviewed with him in the trailer that – where he was located at Traub Elementary School – and he asked me if I would accept the position of Chairman of the Business Division.
Q: Did you accept at that time?
A: Yes, I did. I told him yes, I would.
Q: And there was no buildings here then?
A: We had they were building the first row of buildings over here. They were in the process of building them. We had the trailer house at Traub Elementary School. . . in the parking lot. Then we had the house on Paris Road. And in that house, then, we had our offices. Dr. Jacob Johnson moved down to the house and he was in the front bedroom. When you came in the front door of the house, Betty Metter, our secretary – Dr. Johnson’s secretary – was right there in the living room to greet the people. Toward the back of the living room we had our big conference table and there was a nice fireplace in that room. So we did our interviewing there at the conference table – when we chairs were looking for faculty, we interviewed in there. Iin the kitchen my office became – in the kitchen along with our registrar was in one corner – Ida Dale Youngblood, who was our PR person and myself were back to back in the middle of the room. She faced the window and I faced the kitchen. And then, Anita, our NTSD operator was at this front window. And so that was the four of us right there. Then the kitchen cabinets and our copier was in the kitchen. Our textbooks that we were selecting and getting ready to order and offer the students were in the cabinets in the kitchen.
Q: Huh.
A: And on the back porch. We had a screened-in back porch.
Q: (laughing)
A: Then as you went on down the hall – there was a long hallway, and in the first bedroom off of that hallway was Dr. Gene Bird, who was Humanities and Social Sciences chair when he came onboard. Lloyd Hill, who was our Health Sciences, and he came on board before I did. He started working, I believe in March. And so, he was housed in that bedroom. Dr. John Davis was also in that bedroom. And, let’s see – Marshall Holeman, our Engineering and Science Division chairperson. We were called chairmen of the divisions. And so, those four men were in that bedroom. And their desks were very compatible! (laughing) Very close!
Q: (laughing)
A: Ah, then in the next bedroom on the right was our dean, and that was Dean Jim Tunnel, who was the one who was hired to bring onboard the fac – the staff and faculty.
Q: Ah-huh.
A: And so, of course Dr. Johnson did interviewing and Jim Tunnel.
Q: How would you describe that time? Exciting or . . .?
A: Oh, it was so exciting!
Q: Scary, though, too?
A: Eexciting and – just the adventure of the unknown because we were charting new territory. Across the hall from them was the den of the house – and we had four people in the business office – Leo Dunlap was our vice president for business affairs. And our cashiers and all were housed in that den. So it was an interesting layout. We were all very close and really connected!
Q: You’d have to be – that close!
A: Right. It was an exciting time. It was one that you looked forward to. As I said, it was the challenge of the unknown, but you looked at everything as an opportunity.
Q: Do you remember the buildings going up?
A: Oh, yes! In fact, I would come over to the buildings. I at first came over and went up in the business building, which was just a concrete slab,aAnd the slab for the second floor and walked up the stairs and just the wide open spaces. And Leon said – ran up those stairs – “here’s this hardhat!” (laughing)
Q: (laughing)
A: But it was fun to see them being built.
Q: What was the landscape? Because there’s housing editions around us now. Were they here at the time?
A: Oh, no, they were not here. Ah, this row of buildings on this side (south side of mall) was not here. And we could go down 15th Street, come down Air Depot, and then turn in to what is Adair Blvd., which was just a two-lane like a wagon trail, you know, just mud ruts.
Q: It wasn’t even paved?
A: No, no. Just mud ruts, you know, to come in here, to drive in here. And the buildings were there. We had – the LRC was being built, the Lecture Hall, Engineering and Science Building, and the Business Building. The Fine Arts Building was in process. The little theater was in process. The gym was in process. We really moved into the two buildings – the Engineering and Science Building and the Business Building, which housed all of our academic classes.
Q: And the gym has always been a gym?
A: Yes.
Q: It was originally designed as a gym?
A: Yes, it was originally designed as a gym, and it was the gym first and then the aquarium – ah, the aquarium!
Q: Pool?
A: The pool was added on – the Aquatic Center – it was added on.
Q: OK. OK.
A: At a later time. We had no Student Center at that time. The Student Center was built in 1972. The Fine Arts Building was not completed. We didn’t occupy it until January and we did have some faculty that got to have their offices in there in January. The LRC we did bring on-line and were operational, but it really wasn’t completely finished as well. There were no other buildings – the area here flooded.
Q: Oh! (laughing)
A: And there was a time that outside the Engineering Science Building, then, when they started this row of buildings. . . .
Q: Do you know about what year that was? The following year?
A: No, I have those buildings kind of identified down. The (shuffling with papers) Humanities Building and, you know, they were given names at that time. The theater, of course, was on-line in ’71 or FY’71, you know what I’m saying. The Engineering and Science, the Business Building, the Health and Physical Education Building, which is the gym, and the Fine Arts Building was on-line. Then the Humanities Building came on in 1976, and Social Sciences Building in 1976. And so, then we had them all in between. Well, it flooded and so Bob Park was Chairman of the Engineering and Science Division at that time and Jim Lazalier was in the Social Sciences area. So there was a claim to that property. It was called Park’s Pond by Bob Park and it was called Lazalier Lake by Jim Lazalier.
Q: (laughing)
A: So that was a little competition that they had going there. And so, that was fun! In the Business Building over there we had Social Sciences and Business and Administration.
Q: Oh, really?
A: In that first year.
Q: Wow.
A: Everything was in that building. And then the Engineering and Science Building handled the Health Sciences – all Health Sciences – and all Engineering Sciences – math and sciences.
Q: Well they did a lot didn’t they?
A: Yes, yes we did.
Q: Crammed a lot into the space.
A: Ah-huh.
Q: What are some of your favorite or fondest memories over the 35 years you’ve been here?
A: Oh, well, some of the – let me tell you some of the fun things. You know we had no place to congregate when we had classes going on and it rained, students had no place to go. No student center, no place, so they stayed in the hallways.
Q: Ah-huh.
A: And so you taught classes with a closed door with kids out in the hallway (laughing), you know, chatting!
Q: (laughing)
A: And that was fun! Ah, some of the fun times I remember were after basketball games. I’d invite them to my house and we’d go to my house and have hot cider and cookies or something. Ball players would come and it was just a come-and-go and drop-in thing. And then, when Dr. Leone came on board as president, we often did that at his house. So, those were the fun times, getting together and we did a lot of getting together with one another in each other’s homes during that time because there was no other places, you know, to congregate.
Other fun times were when you brought new faculty on board and how excited they were to be engaging in a learning process – wastebaskets were cardboard boxes that we wrote on “Do Not Throw Away!”
Q: (laughing)
A: If you had a piece of chalk, you hung onto it because if you left it down, somebody got it, you know.
Q: (laughing)
A: So we started on September 21, but Labor Day weekend – all that time trucks were unloading furniture and all of us were up here with our kids breaking boxes and getting in and getting the furniture in the buildings. It was just amazing to see the excitement going on. New institution, new furniture, new faculty, new students. Everything was new!
Q: An exciting time.
A: Yeah, it really was just a real exciting time. And then other fun times were having visitors on campus. One of the most fun times that I remember as a stand-out was when the “60 Minutes” crew was here filming on the campus.
Q: When was that?
A: Oh, that was way back in the early days with our adult education program. And so, I’d have to check back through the probably 15th Street News or something would have the date on that, but when they were here and filmed. And then we had a lot of notables. We’ve had past presidential candidates here. Jimmy Carter and his wife were here and she came another time or two herself. And, you know, just having visitors on campus and having the students have the opportunity to meet individuals like that that, you know, if the college had not been here that wouldn’t have happened. And those were fun times.
Also fun times is seeing the growth of our students and seeing some graduates come back as faculty and staff. It’s exciting as well.
Q: What are some of the least fun times that you’ve experienced here?
A: Well, I guess, one of the least fun times was when you have budget cuts.
Q: Ah-huh.
A: Because you’ve really got to look at curriculum, you’ve got to look at people, and we’ve had some of those times that we’ve had to do that and then we had a time when we had some staff who made some mistakes and that was a rough time. It was a time that – oh, I would say, people really gathered together, though, and really worked for the good of the college. And so, it allowed us to see people’s abilities – how they could cope with things and how they could make something good come of bad decisions. And so it was a good time once we worked through it.
Q: Learning experience.
A: It was a real learning experience. It was. And a real life learning experience.
Q: What events do you believe – or event – has had the greatest impact on the college?
A: Oh, I would think the greatest impact on the college would be when the college became a member of the state system of higher education.
Q: When was that, do you know?
A: 1973. Our state legislature brought Oscar Rose Junior College into the state system and there were other colleges that were brought in at that time.
Q: Was the college accredited at that time? Or did that happen later?
A: Yes, North Central came and gave us conditional – they looked at us – this is where Dr. Jacob Johnson was so strong in identifying what a college should be, how it should be organized, and how you go to work and to put those pieces together. And then Dr. Joe Leone came right in and Dr. Leone is a master teacher – the two words that I would use to describe him so much, because he was a very learned person. But he stepped aside and let you learn what you needed to learn, and I really call that a master teacher who has the patience to wait until you learn what you should be doing. (laughter) And, then, he picks you up if you fall.
Q: Yeah.
A: But, really, a master teacher and a superb teacher and he allowed our staff to grow and, really flourish and was always there to help us and support us. Those are the things that I really remember about North Central and when North Central came back and visited us and gave us the full accreditation. One of my most fun experiences was to be invited to testify before AACSB. Now that’s the American Association of Collegiate Schools of Business, and that is the accrediting agency like OU is AACSB school. That was the acronym then. I’m not sure it’s still the acronym now. And OSU was an AACSB school, and, all, and we were looked at with a little bit of hesitation. People didn’t quite know what we were going to be, you know. Are they really going to go? Is it really going to be a college, you know! And there were those who were waiting in the wings to see how we did. We had such a good faculty. We brought a tremendous faculty on board. And they were teachers, really dedicated teachers. And the AACSB invited me to their national meeting in Denver as chairman of the Business Division because we were wanting our courses to transfer. Well, AACSB were saying “Well, now, you know, maybe not.” “Is this really collegiate level?”
Q: (laughing)
A: So I was invited to testify before the AACSB accrediting and they are the accrediting agency for collegiate schools of business. And it was a really interesting experience. I felt like Daniel in the lion’s den when I went.Because there was really a very skeptical look at the community colleges, you know. Who were we and who did we think we were? So many thought, “Is this a glorified high school? Or is this really collegiate level?”
Q: Well, even calling this a junior college . . .
A: Right.
Q: Yeah.
A: So a junior college in that day really meant the first two years of a four-year institution. And we were a community junior college so we were so much more than just a junior college. And we also respected their courses at the receiving institutions. And understood their desire to keep them at the proper levels and all. But it was so interesting in Denver when I was working and answering their questions. And one of them said, “Well, what are your credentials for teachers to teach at Rose State?” Well, we required the master’s degree with 18 graduate hours in their area of concentration. And so it dawned on me and I turned to them and said “You’re graduate assistants would not be eligible to teach at Rose State.” And that was really a deciding mark in their recognizing that, hey, we were collegiate level. Because they had many GA’s teaching their classes that did not have their master’s degrees yet or didn’t have 18 graduate hours. And so, that to me was a very significant time. It seemed to be a time that it seemed to break a barrier for us.
Q: About when was that?
A: Ah, it was the year that North Central committee was here. It would be maybe ’74 or ’75. I could look it up and see, but it was significant in that the North Central committee was here I had been invited to go and yet the committee wanted to visit with the chairs.
Q: Ah-huh.
A: I wasn’t going to leave and not visit and so Joe Leone said, “Well, I’ll tell you what, Joyce,” he said, “hang around.” He said “You’ve got your ticket.” And I said “Yes, I do.” And he said “Well, we’ll get you to the airport. Let’s see if they can’t visit with you.” So he asked them to change their agenda and see if they would visit with the chairs early and then I could leave for the airport and catch my flight. Well, I did. I caught my flight and got there. They had a car waiting for me at the airport and I never had such a wild ride to get . . .walked into the hotel and had my suitcase and the driver followed me in and he said, “I’ll check you in. You go on.” And they had someone to meet me there because I was going to be on. . . and you talk about really just making it and I walked in the door and they said “And here she is.” (laughing) And I went on and sat down and so that’s when I started answering questions. But it was really neat because number one, they wanted to know who we are, and that was important. It was their request. And, number two, we responded, which was important for all community colleges. So then, it caused them to really look at us and think, “Hey, there is a new kid on the block and they’re viable.” And so, I just felt like that was just a real turning point in my time.
Also went with Jack Crabtree – who was an attorney in Oklahoma City who is since deceased – working on our legal assistant program. The governor had also worked with us on wanting an established legal assistant program at Rose –at Oscar Rose Junior College. The American Bar Association was the one that really looked at that. So Jack Crabtree invited me to go with him to San Francisco to the American Bar Association meeting. So, that was interesting and important where we looked at the curriculum, what they expected of us. They had legal assistant programs in four-year institutions, but not in a community college. So, again, it was a maiden area, you know. So that was an interesting and successful trip.
Also went to Chicago with the NBEA – the National Business Education Association, that time. Dick Van Hook had long wanted for a court reporting program, and he said, “Hey, you know, Rose – Oscar Rose can go with the court reporting program.” So I learned how to . . .
Q: Oh, did you?
A: I learned it and Gail Austin learned it. Then I went to Chicago and was awarded the “Stenographer Teacher of the Year” at the NBEA meeting in Chicago at that time. So that was a fun thing, but those were new things that we looked forward to. We tackled them because there was a real need for them.
Q: How do you think Rose State College is viewed within the Oklahoma Higher Education System, now?
A: I think we are certainly a respected and recognized institution that has its mission and meets that mission. And it is interesting to see that evolve around because there’s competition. And we know there is competition, but to be respected as a learning institution and I think we have that respect.
Q: How are we in the community? Are we a good friend to the community?
A: Oh, I think so! Absolutely! We have brought to the community more than just a learning institution. We have brought to the community opportunities to meet, mingle. Opportunities to work together on the Glenwood Addition or whatever our community needs,to save Tinker or whatever. We have been a good friend to Tinker. And we have been a good friend to the State of Oklahoma.
Another fun time we had was the bicentennial celebration. And we had a Tinker Country bicentennial committee that even had a constitution. (laughing) Have you ever been on a committee that had a constitution? We had a Tinker Country bicentennial committee and we had the bicentennial celebration here on our campus. Gladys Warren was the state director of the bicentennial committee of the state. And then one of the things that I enjoyed so much that our business division did in 1980 – we had the first free enterprise fair. And we modeled it after Bowling Green, Kentucky, where they had a free enterprise fair and a friend of mine, Dr. Picky Keck, was an instigator of that and she brought the idea to us, shared it with us over Christmas break and we said “Hey, we need to have one of those at Oscar Rose.” GM was new on the scene, so we had co-chairs. Walt Meyer was the GM manager over all GM and I co-chaired the free enterprise fair and it was co-sponsored by Rose State College and General Motors. It wasn’t Rose State then, it was Oscar Rose. We invited businesses and companies to come and set up exhibits in the gym. We had it on a Wednesday and a Thursday and I was reminiscing here before you came over and looking at some of the things – but it was really neat because we went to the high schools and by the high school students, the teachers.
The businesses set up the exhibits in the gym. And Dr. Kenneth McFarland then was our banquet speaker, our women’s association at Oscar Rose Junior College sponsored the breakfast for all the exhibitors and we served the breakfast in our student center that had been built in 1972. And it was just really an event. We had a wonderful time. To have businesses coming in and showing the community what their wares were and all and Ken McFarland, Dr. McFarland, was the spokesperson. That’s the 1981 brochure and we have a 1980. . . but that was an exciting time and the business division faculty really worked on – all the faculty on the whole campus really worked on it, you know, everybody jumped in. Vince Orza was one of our speakers and there was a young man who had invented the game from OSU that came and spoke in our student senate. June Brooks who was a land man in the oil industry was the speaker at one of our sessions. It was a good activity and it was really one of the neatest things [and] one of the fondest memories that we had with partnering with businesses and bringing them on board. And of coarse, with General Motors, they helped finance, in fact, they financed the speaker to come in and it was a good thing because we invited the high schools and the elementary schools, students around and all. That was a neat time. Now since being in the personnel area, the activities that we have had with them, for the most part, is presenting training sessions and presentations at some of our national conventions, so that’s been fun.
Q: Well you’ve been here ever since the start, so you’ve been able to work with every president the college has had. So lets get through and in a sentence or two, tell me your thoughts about those individuals. And the first President was Jacob B. Johnson.
A: Right. Organizational, functional and people-oriented.
Q: How about Joe Leone?
A: Master teacher.
Q: How about Joe Packnet?
A: Cared for people.
Q: John Davis?
A: A direct listener and visionary.
Q: Larry Nutter?
A: Larry Nutter accepted the responsibility of answering so many questions and he came on board and did it with such credibility, such truthfulness and gained the respect back for the college.
Q: And our present President, James Cook?
A: A real visionary, a real visionary, a person who cares and is a good one.
Q: And then, what about some of the faculty and staff members over the 35 year? Who do you think back fondly of… or who contributed to the college’s success?
A: I think Dr. Lovernon Collett Salier. She was one of the first English faculty here and then later became chairman of the humanities division but retired, I believe, in 1985 or 1986, somewhere along in there. But a caring person, a person who could see what needed to be done and did it and had a charisma about her that people wanted to do whatever she asked to be done. And I think she’s not only a master teacher, but a real leader and so on. And a comrade of mine as a division chair as well. The first faculty we had in the business division, of course, I would be very close to them, there were 6 of them. We started out with four and then we had two more before the end of the year. To think of six faculty in a business division! But that was the need of Anita Bednar, June Goss, Eunice Judd, Carolyn Marshall, Harriet McQueen, and lets see, Claire Smith, were the six that were full time regular faculty when we began in the business division. And of course we were so close, if one ran out of something, the other one was right there to hand it to them and – a real belonging. One of the standouts in my mind – Carol Veckler – is one that just was always there. Susan Loveless was Susan Catlett at that time, and I mean young, energetic – anything that was needed and could see what was needed, and responded. People just did things and so that was what was so good. Teaching was our responsibility – making that learning opportunity happen and our staff really worked for that, and, of course, we had a good – just a good framework of individuals working together.
Q: What about yourself? What do you want to be remembered by?
A: Ok, what do I want to be remembered by? As a laughing, happy individual that can listen to people and individuals.
Q: And how do you see your future at Rose State?
A: Keepin’ on keeping on. (laughter)No, I just think that what is so important to us now – and is really what I’m working with – are thinking skills because I really believe in teaching the thinking skills and allowing people the opportunity to do the thinking for themselves.
Q: And then twenty, thirty years, when someone is going back listening to your interview, what would you like them to know about Rose State?
A: That it is the place to be.
Q: Well, Joy, I want to thank you for taking this time out today.
