USM Admissions Officer Earns Associate’s Degree Through Transfer Credit Program

Mon, 02/27/2023 - 04:26pm | By: David Tisdale

Dr. Naomi Clement has already reached the academic mountaintop, having earned her bachelor's, master’s, and doctoral degrees.

But recently, the Petal, Mississippi native who is assistant director of operations for The University of Southern Mississippi (USM) Office of Admissions, took care of some unfinished business to add one more credential to her vita.

Dr. Clement entered Jones College in nearby Ellisville, Mississippi as a freshman in 1996. But before completing her associate’s degree, she reconsidered her plans.

“I attended Jones from 1996-1998 and was taking classes that would count toward any degree, as I was unsure of what I wanted to major in,” she said. “This led to me taking a year off from attending school to decide what I wanted to do.”

Noting that she’s taken a very different educational path than most people, her personal education journey gives her a passion to work with all students, specifically non-traditional students, to help them with their own academic and career moves. She started working in the USM Admissions office in 2003, first as an admission evaluator, reviewing student applicants for admission; later, she took on more duties, increasing her expertise in the readmission process in the application of transfer students’ credits to academic programs at USM.

Helping transfer students not only became a passion but helped Dr. Clement realize she had now “found” her career. She then obtained advanced degrees in higher education at USM, enabling her to move into her current role as an embedded recruiter for the university at Jones and at Pearl River Community College’s Poplarville and Hattiesburg campuses. She initially started visiting students at the three campuses this past fall semester, keeping set office hours each week on both campuses.

It's a partnership she says is leading to many positive outcomes for students choosing to continue their education at USM.

“I meet with students interested in transferring to Southern Miss and talk over their goals, make sure the classes they are taking will be direct transfer equivalents and the best fit for their degree here, and discuss scholarship opportunities. Basically, I help them with all things admission related.”

Her work with community college transfer students not only inspired her career choice, but to wrap up the associate’s degree she started years earlier at Jones. After a review of the classes needed to finish the program and fill those using credits earned at USM, she was awarded the degree last fall.

Having journeyed via the road often less travelled in higher education makes Dr. Clement an example of what one can achieve with persistence and patience, even if it means taking care of some unfinished business along the way. 

“And being a first-generation college graduate, I take my role seriously in walking through the whole higher educational process with students,” she further noted.

With that philosophy in mind, Dr. Clement develops positive faculty and staff relationships through USM’s community college partners to help smooth the transfer process for their students coming to USM.

“I have over 19 years working with transfer students, pointing them to resources that can help them choose a major best utilizing their transfer credits and available financial resources, just to name a few,” she said. “And I work with my partners at the community colleges to make sure the student is getting the best care possible in their transition to USM.”

And it’s a priority for Dr. Clement to make a potential new student’s first impression of Southern Miss a positive one. She takes that initial interaction with the university to heart. 

“I tell them about the financial aid opportunities (scholarships, etc.) we offer while emphasizing the importance of maintaining a strong GPA (grade point average), the academic support we provide, such as through the Writing Center and the Speaking Center, and the extracurricular opportunities available so that they can get the full college experience,” she said.

“It’s also important for me to use my own story to help them understand they can overcome any obstacle in their way, and to work hard to finish what they start.”

Kayla Shaffer of Hattiesburg, a student at Pearl River who plans to transfer to USM in the fall of 2023 to major in social work, praised Dr. Clement for help in preparing her for the next steps in toward her degree.

“Dr. Clement has gone above and beyond to help me in the transfer process, and she continues to help me,” Shaffer said. “She has made the process as smooth as she possibly can, and I’m very appreciative for that.”

For information about the admissions process at USM, visit https://www.usm.edu/admissions/index.php.