Name: Frank Clemente
Position: Professor of Sociology
Education: Ph.D., University of Tennessee, 1971; Post-doctoral Fellow, University of Wisconsin, 1972-73
Links: University Profile
‘Frank Clemente Rules!’ Facebook Group
Frank Clemente is, to his students, more than a sociology instructor; he’s a professor of living. His greatest lessons are not on the final, but students will use them throughout their lives.
What do you teach?
I teach SOC 005 — Social Problems — to 1,200 kids every fall. I am at the latter stages of my academic career, so that is my major teaching responsibility.
How did you come to Penn State?
I came to Penn State in 1973 from the University of Wisconsin. I really did not have long-term plans to stay in State College, but both my wife and I had widowed mothers within easy driving distance, so it seemed like a decent place to locate for a few years. No one is more surprised than me that I am still here closing on four decades. But the community draws a web around you, and the university is an excellent place to work. I give thanks every day that I am on the faculty at Penn State University.
What is it about sociology that you find interesting?
I have always been interested in social structure and how different groups interact with each other through the process of social change. My main research area now is energy, and that is a perfect setting to study the kinds of interactions on which I like to focus.
In what way do you teach your passion for social energy issues?
I talk about energy generally in my classroom, but it is not really a major topic of discussion. I spend some of my time talking about micro-level aspects of living — how to improve your life in a changing world and make yourself a better person despite problems that you face.
Clemente’s Rules of Life, as posted on ‘Frank Clemente Rules!’
- Know yourself; respect yourself
- Keep your health
- Live a full, passionate life
- Raise the bar
- Give something back
- Don’t be afraid of risk or failure
- Always take the high road
- Remember the buffalo (never give up)
- Follow your dream
- Tomorrow belongs to you
How long have you been teaching and what do you want to do after you retire?
I’m actually somewhat of a Johnny-come-late to full-time teaching. I spent the bulk of my career in research and administration since I was department head for 13 years and director of a research center before that. I got back in teaching in 1998, and since that time I have focused on my social problems course.
At one time I was teaching upwards of 3,000 students a year, so no matter where I go in the country I often hear someone scream ‘Hey! Professor Clemente!’ I have gotten first class air tickets, suites in hotels, innumerable drinks and even a special tour of Disney World from my former students.
What has been your biggest accomplishment as a sociology professor?
In terms of my SOC 005 course, I really have been lucky to have some kind of an impact on the lives of so many kids. I get e-mails virtually every day from someone who had me in 1999, 2003 and 2007 and so on. They often want advice on a problem that they have in their current life. I’ve had to go through divorces, deaths, addiction problems and job losses. But I’ve also been fortunate enough to have witnessed innumerable graduations, weddings, births and countless successes.
How do your students teach you?
I benefit from my interactions with students because they constantly renew my faith in America and the future of this country. I have students that are in Doctors without Borders, Teach for America and the Peace Corps. I have students in the military, all medical fields, government and business. I have Little League coaches and Cub Scout mothers. The full panorama of American life comes marching through my class, and it is a powerful wave.
What is one quote that is most significant to you? Why?
An old baseball player named Satchel Paige once said, ‘Don’t look back. Someone might be gaining on you.’ That impressed me greatly as a young boy and I try to live by that rule. I rarely second-guess myself despite the many mistakes that I’ve made. My wife says, ‘It was a good decision at the time,’ and I guess her quotation is the one I would see as most significant.
