When Humboldt State University seniors receive their diplomas on May 15, it's a sure bet that many of them will be thinking, "Finally!" after four or five years of hard work.

Barbara Duca has them beat.

"I think I've been continuously enrolled since 1981," she said.

An administrative analyst for HSU's College of Natural Resources and Sciences, she has been working on her degree by taking one course each semester. She will receive a bachelors degree in business on May 15.

She doesn't plan to go on to a more prestigious or higher-paying job. Duca said she enjoys her job at HSU, but has always felt it important to get a college degree.

"It was just something, in the back of my mind, I always wanted to do," she said.

She said it has been harder to stay motivated for the last few classes. While initially Duca had tried to go to class during her lunch hour, lately she's been taking more specialized classes that are harder to schedule, meaning she's had to rearrange her work schedule.

"She frequent works late -- 6, 7, 8 o'clock at night -- to make everything happen," said Steve Smith, associate dean of the College of Natural Resources and Sciences. "She doesn't complain about anything. She just keeps chipping away at it."

Duca will be the first member of her family from her generation to graduate from college. Both her daughters graduated from Chico State University and are now teachers.

She also almost added a Guinness Book of World Records listing to her accomplishments. Duca contacted Guinness officials to ask how to create a new category in long-distance tap-dancing.

"I'd told the Guinness Book of World Records we were going to tap dance the entire length of State Highway 255 -- which is two miles," she said.

State, county and Eureka city officials agreed to shut down the Samoa Bridge to traffic long enough for the seven-member troupe to tap-dance over it on July 4, 1980. The seven women ranged from 26 to 50 years old.

"It was so much fun," Duca said.

After repeating the routine the next year, Duca received a congratulatory letter from Guinness officials.

But fame was fleeting. Before they could make it into the book, a tap-dancer in the San Francisco Bay area danced along the Golden Gate Bridge, Duca said. Duca said she's hung up her tap shoes since then.

Her job as an administrative analyst involves answering questions about college policies, helping to handle the budget for the dean's office and generally coordinating any number of activities. Duca said she rarely knows on any given day what she'll be doing until she shows up and the phone starts ringing with questions.

She's worked at HSU since 1978, starting as a receptionist in the housing office. She moved on to become a secretary for the home economics and industrial technology departments, then for the math department.

"This is the nicest job, I think, I've ever had," she said. "Of course, I said that about home ec when I was there and math when I was there. I guess I just like helping people."

Duca, 51, said that when the academic secretaries gather in August for their annual meeting, "I used to look around and I was the youngest. Now I look around and I'm the oldest."

She said she's had the chance to meet faculty from across the university both as an academic secretary and as a student. Duca said she loved her geology classes with Professor John Longshore.

"I've met so many people and I've done so many things," she said.

As an academic department secretary, she said, the most common questions had to do with how to add or drop a class. But Duca said they also got more technical.

One community member called the math department to explain that he had a liquid tanker with a dent in it, and wondered how much liquid it would hold. Duca referred him to a math professor who, given the size of the tanker and the size of the dent, came up with an amount.

"We had a question the other day: 'I've got a possum in my apartment. Do you guys want it?'" she said.

She said no, advising the person to instead call Animal Control. Duca said the College of Natural Resources and Sciences has been offered hornets' nests and other items.

She said faculty occasionally greet her with: "You're still here? I thought you graduated."

"No," she replies, "not yet."

Her family will cheer her on at Commencement. In August, Duca and her mother will travel to Australia for a celebratory vacation.

Earlier this semester, Duca was ill with the flu and missed a week of school. Her daughters told her, "You better graduate!"

"I can't believe that I'm actually going to do it -- but it is an immense personal achievement to me, and something I've never wanted to give up on," she said.

But she said she won't miss the days of working through her lunch hours on reports due for classes. Duca recalled telling Dean Jim Howard, "What'll I complain about once I graduate?"