ALPINE – Dr. Barbara “Barney” Nelson said she likes to joke that she has held virtually every job on the Sul Ross State University campus.
Nelson, a fixture at Sul Ross State University for 45 years as student, staff member and faculty member, will retire at the end of Spring Semester 2013.
Dr. Barney Nelson
“I started out handing out pool cues in the old student union,” she smiled. “I fed the pigs and cleaned their pens. I was a secretary and a tutor.”
And since 1990, she has been a lecturer, assistant professor and associate professor of English.
“It has been a pretty good ride,” she said.
The “ride” began as a student in 1968 and has also included two degrees (B.S. 1971; M.S. 1990), teaching certification (1978), and 10 years as secretary in Range Animal Science (now Agricultural and Natural Resource Sciences). After she received her Master’s degree, a lecturer’s position in English became available. After several applicants turned down the position, Nelson was hired – presumably for one semester – shortly before classes began.
Several years later, she took a leave of absence, received her Ph.D. in English at the University of Nevada-Reno in 1997, and then rejoined the Sul Ross faculty.
In addition to teaching, she has been a prolific writer and noted photographer, with numerous academic and pedagogical papers, scholarly publications, seven books and hundreds of popular press articles and photos to her credit.
On campus, Nelson has served on numerous committees and councils, including the committee chair and director of the Quality Enhancement Plan, Faculty Athletic Representative, vice-chair of Faculty Assembly, chair of the Teaching Council, Access and Equity Committee, President’s Task Force on Underprepared Students, founding director of Celebrating our Heritage Festival, founder and executive secretary for the ANRS and Rodeo Exes Association. She has also served as sponsor and advisor for The Eyes of Nature Photography Club and faculty advisor for The Sage Literary Magazine.
She has served the Alpine community through the Brewster County Historical Commission and was a founder and director of the Texas Cowboy Poetry Gathering, The Shooting West Texas Photography Symposium and Big Bend Ranch Rodeo.
Other work includes service as acquisitions editor for several university presses and professional journals, as Environmental Editor for Range Magazine for 17 years and newsletter editor for the Rural Women’s Studies Association. Professional activities include Executive Councils for the Western Literature Association and Association for the Study of Literature and Environment and co-director of the Desert Crossings Symposium in the Big Bend.
Growing up in Bellevue, Iowa, on the Mississippi River, where she learned to love fishing, Nelson moved with her family to Arizona at age 11 and she made a smooth transition to ranch country and western life. Many of her writings and photographs depict the cowboy way and she has designed and taught environmental and Big Bend-centered writing classes at Sul Ross.
“I really like the kind of students we attract to Sul Ross; they are polite, fun, good kids,” she said, adding with a smile, “of course I only see them in the daytime.
“I have really liked all my classes, too. Sul Ross has given us, as faculty, a lot of freedom to design classes. I am anxious to read my students’ papers, rather than dread them,” she said.
“I owe Sul Ross a lot. It is a great school that is unsung and unappreciated.”
Retirement will find her working on writing projects, including her memoirs as a livestock journalist and possibly a textbook. She may also spend more time with her daughter and son-in-law, Carla and Chris Spencer, and spoiling her grandchildren, Jorey and Riley.
“I need to take care of some health issues, but I hope to come back and teach part time,” she said.