Bonnie Frumer knows a little bit about online registration.

Of course when she started at Temple, it meant something a little different.

"Everything was done in person. Online registration meant you went to the campus and you waited on line until it was your turn to talk to an advisor and register," said Frumer, Assistant Dean for Curriculum at Temple University Ambler. "At Ambler, the advising office was on the third floor of the Administration Building; we had people waiting in line going down a couple flights of steps! People weren't used to getting everything immediately then — there were no cell phones, no registering at home by computer."

After nearly 50 years of service to Temple, Frumer will soon depart the university as she begins a well-earned retirement.

"Going through my office now, it's like studying for a comprehensive examine and reviewing all of my courses," she said. "I know I'll miss the social context the most. This campus is a group of very nice, tremendously hard working people that I've known for many years — we're family."

Frumer has a special understanding of the students at Temple because she started out at the University just like they did as a math major in 1960. She joined the Math Department faculty in 1966 and arrived at Ambler Campus teaching mathematics courses in 1968.

"Not long after arriving at Ambler, I became an advisor and then advising director a little down the road after that. Ambler was very much smaller then — about 400 to 500 students — but the campus was just beginning to offer other programs beyond associate's degrees in landscape design and horticulture," said Frumer, a charter member of NACADA (National Academic Advising Association). "The dean at the time was Sidney Halpern who had a vision of Ambler becoming a full-fledged college. Sidney was a driving force — he drove and drove to accomplish what he wanted to accomplish for this campus."

Ambler, Frumer said, saw enrollment booms in the late 1970s and early 1980s from a few hundred students to several thousand.

"The question is how did we fit them all, how did we manage so many students? I'm not quite sure," she said. "We had a very close knit group of people that took on multiple tasks to ensure that everything that needed to be done to effectively run a small college was done. That willingness to do whatever is needed is still readily evident in everyone that works at Ambler today."

Career services, disability services, midterm notifications, pre-med and pre-law and health professions advising "it was fun to develop all of these resources for the campus," she said.

"We were a unit serving a population of different majors and programs at a time when that wasn't typical at the university," she said. "We learned how to be flexible. We learned how to look at things in different ways to find the best solutions for student success."

In the earliest part of the enrollment boom, "all registrations were done manually," Frumer said. There were no computer systems to help the process along. Most of the campus staff was also crammed into Haines House and the Administration Building, she added.

New facilities didn't come until 1978 with the addition of Widener Hall. Dixon Hall followed in 1983 with new science labs and classrooms on the site of the original dormitory, a site that, according to Frumer, was literally a large hole in the ground before the new building was completed.

"The physical environment here is certainly unique among University locations and I think the grounds and gardens look better than ever. I think because we are small, everyone — faculty, staff, students — has a great opportunity to get to know one another and work in synergy," she said. "You don't really see people working in isolated silos. Students have access to people in an important, substantive way."

Thirteen associate deans, deans and directors later, Frumer has always kept the needs of the students front and center as a member of the faculty, as an advisor, as advising director and as Assistant Dean for Curriculum, a position she took on in 2000.

"At the time, work was underway to create Ambler College, which became the School of Environmental Design. I was able to help the school and college develop new courses and undergraduate and graduate programs," she said. "It's been wonderful over the years to be able to develop and watch programs like this grow. The goal has always been to ensure that Ambler is able to offer the courses students need to graduate on time; advocating for the campus and keeping Ambler at the forefront."

As to why she chose now to retire, Frumer said it's simply the right time.

"I've never not worked. I've been working since I was 16 years old," she said. "I like doing what I do; I love the work and the people I work with. But my husband Michael and I want to do other things as well, such as travel. This is going to be a huge transition — I think I'll spend about six months to a year figuring it all out."

Frumer has seen a great deal of change over the years at Temple, "but her priority has never wavered — ensuring that our students have the resources they need to succeed," said Vicki Lewis McGarvey, Vice Provost for University College and Interim Director for Ambler Campus.

"I'll miss her vast knowledge of the University, her sage advice and her steadfast advocacy for Temple Ambler," McGarvey said.

On Thursday, October 1, faculty and staff are invited to a special celebration to wish Frumer the best on her new journey and thank her for her unwavering dedication to Temple. The event will be held at 3:00 p.m. in the Campus Lounge (Bright Hall).

RSVP to Assunta Forgione at assunta.forgione@temple.edu  or 267-468-8011 by Tuesday, September 29. If you would like to contribute towards a gift, please drop off your donation with Crisbel Baez in the Administration Building.