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Office of the Registrar

Dartmouth College
Office of the Registrar
6014 McNutt Hall
Hanover, NH 03755-3541


Phone: (603) 646-2246
Fax: (603) 646-2247
Email: registrar@Dartmouth.EDU

Annual Report 2010

Registrar's Office Annual Report 2009-2010

Registrar’s Office Mission Statement:

The Office of the Registrar supports and sustains Dartmouth’s diverse academic community by providing academic services guided by the principles of respect, accuracy, confidentiality and efficiency.

Our GOALS: REDUCE RISK, IMPROVE SERVICE, ADVANCE SUSTAINABILITY, MAXIMIZE RESOURCES

What do we do?

Course election, registration, class scheduling, major/minor declaration, grade processing, Catalog (ORC) production, graduation certification, and academic transcript processing.  In addition we lead multiple internal, cross-divisional and institution-wide projects.

AND we also:

  • maintain students' academic records throughout their years at Dartmouth
  • develop and publish the academic calendar
  • provide guidance about the academic curriculum
  • act as a central information source for the College
  • manage on-line course assessment and reporting
  • certify Veterans
  • manage D-Plans
  • manage Faculty elections
  • review academic petitions for exceptions to faculty policies
  • support students who study off-campus while on a leave term
  • support transfer students and the transfer credit process
  • report to the National Student Clearinghouse to support financial aid and student loans
  • provide Degree and Enrollment verification for students
  • provide Apostille notarization for international recognition of credentials
  • manage Banner (student system) security access
  • train and support Department/Program Administrators on course and course system management
  • provide reporting services to support Undergraduate Arts and Sciences Faculty and Dean of Faculty Office
  • assist  the Institute for Writing and Rhetoric with First-year seminar and Writing 5 enrollments
  • support the Dean of Faculty as a member of the Senior Management Team
  • participate in numerous Faculty and ad hoc committees
  • comply with and educate the campus about Federal, State, and Institutional student records legislation
  • provide consulting for the American University of Kuwait
  • provide Institutional Leadership and act as a change agent

Significant advancements have been made this year to reduce risks associated with

  • outdated systems supporting major registrarial functions which, if they were to fail, would have widespread and significant consequences;  
  • the need to reorganize staff positions and ensure appropriate skill sets are in place for providing the needed functions of a modern-day Registrar’s Office.

Computing has partnered with the Office to implement both major and minor projects. Challenges include

  • sufficient, continuous, flexible, Computing support to transition high risk functions to stable, supported platforms that deliver academic services within Faculty legislated boundaries;
  • the quantity and diversity of our tasks as we try to improve basic Registrarial functions.  As our constituents demand more services and our peers move forward, it is hard for the Dartmouth Registrar’s Office to catch up, much less offer the latest technologies.
  • workload issues.  Due to the budget situation, we are approached with frequency (just about weekly) by someone on campus who wants us to take over a new task, or work with them to re-engineer their process, which challenges us to continuously prioritize and stay focused on our central mission to the College.

 

Despite these challenges, it has been a year of many accomplishments.


ACCOMPLISHMENTS:

This year was marked by budget cutbacks including reductions in force for Dartmouth College.  The Registrar’s Office participated by:

  • Reducing its operating budget by 10% and by not using all the funds in its budget for the year.
  • Reorganizing staff so that despite the unfortunate need for a layoff, and a budget-initiated retirement, total department compensation was reduced. A new structure was created which included positions central to the office mission and with skill sets required to implement new high priority initiatives.
  • The Registrar submitted three revenue generating ideas, all of which were approved by the Trustee budget committee: an increase in the transfer term fee, the document fee, and the degree verify fee, generating increased annual revenue for the College of @ $250,000.

 

INSTITUTION-WIDE PROJECTS

  • Thanksgiving-end calendar project – Registrar is the project lead, investigating the possibility of changing the fall term calendar to end the term by Thanksgiving break.
  • HEOA Textbook law implementation – This new federal law required development of a tool for inputting the textbook information into Banner each term, and required extensive education and training of faculty and department administrators by the staff.
  • ORC reduction in cost/print – saved @ $13,000 over the prior year and began preliminary investigations, including establishing a new sub-committee of the COI, for moving to an online ORC in future years.

 

INTERNAL BUSINESS PROCESS PROJECTS AND RE-ENGINEERING

  • Banner 8 upgrade testing – very extensive due to major upgrade of the student system
  • Re-engineering and documentation of office processes and procedures (i.e. process for building courses)
  • Revision of transfer credit processes
  • Requirements chart – outlining degree requirements in detail
  • D-plan chart – outlining D-plan rules in detail
  • Project to standardize abbreviations and course titles on transcripts
  • Schema for reports designed to locate data more easily
  • New process to check for any missing instructors
  • Increased the number of reports run using Discoverer rather than True Basic/VMS
  • Re-engineered entering transfer student process
  • Re-engineered multiple processes to improve efficiency and delivery of service

 

IMPROVEMENTS IN SERVICE TO STUDENTS

  • Unofficial transcripts made available online to all undergraduates
  • Viewing of citations made available online to all undergraduates who have received them
  • Automated the 2/4 course load notification for students not in compliance with faculty policy
  • Improved the online degree audit tool
  • Created a website with information on transfer terms
  • Began holding transfer term information sessions periodically
  • Degree Works research, purchase and first steps towards implementation
  • Registrar’s Office website redesign to improve information and navigation– launch expected by fall 2010
  • Moving towards more of a ‘one-stop” service model to better address student needs

 

IMPROVEMENTS IN SERVICE TO FACULTY

  • Implemented online grading for faculty; @ 60% of grades entered online as of spring term
    • Added new feature – grade entry report and confirmation
    • Citations entered online
    • Failure reports entered online
  • Course assessment tweaks
  • Course election research and partnering with Computing to begin implementation of an improved system with the features faculty require including new functionality (i.e. prerequisite checking)
  • Development and distribution of curricular guidelines chart
  • Extensive support for HEA Textbook Law requirement

 

OPERATIONS

  • Hired 3 student workers. Despite some initial hesitation about introducing student workers to the office, they have become an integral part of the team. They are now greatly appreciated by staff, and their presence improves student/staff relationships while helping to complete needed tasks.
  • Successfully re-established a positive and energized office atmosphere after the departure of a disgruntled employee who disrupted the work environment with negativity.
  • Reorganization has resulted in a stronger organizational structure that will better support the needs of the Dartmouth Community and the operations of a modern-day Registrar’s office. New hires include:
    • Associate Registrar for Technology
    • Graduation and Technical Analyst
    • Assistant Registrar for Systems
    • Service Specialist (pending)
    • Promotion of Senior Service Specialist
    • Reorganization of responsibilities – Assistant Registrar for Operations

 

TRAINING/PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT

  • New England Association of Collegiate Registrars and Admissions Officers 62nd Annual Meeting (NEACRAO), Portland, ME. Registrar, presenter. Also attended by Associate and Assistant Registrar.
  • American Association of Collegiate Registrars and Admissions Officers 96th Annual Meeting (AACRAO), New Orleans, LA. Registrar, presenter. Also attended by Assistant Registrar.
  • SunGard Summit, San Francisco, CA. Associate Registrars attended.
  • Ivy Registrars Meeting (by phone this year due to budget constraints).
  • Hosted two meetings/trainings with Department/Program Administrators in August and February.
  • New England Banner Users Group, University of New Hampshire. Associate Registrar attended.
  • MEAD seminar, Dartmouth College. Assistant Registrar attended.

 

The Registrar continued work on multiple committees which include:

  • Committee of Chairs
  • Committee on Instruction
  • COI sub-committee on course Publications (also Assistant Registrar)
  • Committee on Withdrawals
  • Enrollment Committee (also Associate Registrar for Research)
  • Campus Planning Committee
  • Classroom Subcommittee
  • Student System Oversight Committee - Chair
  • Dartmouth Information Security Council – Arts and Sciences Division Representative
  • Enterprise Systems Committee
  • Dartmouth Registrars - Chair
  • Accreditation Committee
  • Calendar Committee
  • Committee on Off-Campus Activities
  • Language Waiver Committee
  • Associate Registrars - Dartmouth Student System Advisory Committee

 

GOALS FOR 2010-2011

Technical Project Goals

  • Implement DegreeWorks software program to provide online ability to declare majors, measure degree progress and plan curriculum (requested by faculty and student assembly). Implement in phases, beginning with general education requirements, then with a few departments before entire College.
  • Implement new course election system, starting with spring term 2011.
  • Allow students to change D-plans online, rather than in-person in the Registrar’s Office. (Build in rules.)
  • Assist Dean of Faculty Office with Tenure Name project.
  • Work with other departments and schools on “cancelling enrollment” project.
  • Work with Dean of College Office on credits and exemptions re-write.
  • Work with COI on the development of an electronic course approval routing system for faculty to use when proposing new courses.
  • Redesign ORC so that it can eventually be an online (only) document.

 

Operational Goals

  • Improve staff knowledge of Banner and train new staff on Dartmouth practices.
  • Develop expert customer service skills and establish "one-stop" model.
  • Continue process re-engineering and streamlining services.
  • Strengthen team approach toward work while maintaining positive morale.
  • Keep the focus on the core mission of the department so that essential functions perform effectively and support the College.
  • Look towards the future so that the Registrar’s Office staff and its systems stay current.
  • Continue to support the Dean of Faculty including the transition to a new Dean.
  • Develop processes to improve accuracy, documentation, and cross-training of staff.
  • Assume the tasks appropriate to the Registrar’s Office that come as a result of the dismantling of the First Year Office.

 

Selected Data on our Operations:

This year the Registrar's Office Staff:

  • Processed 17,425 official transcripts from Banner (plus several thousand more from pre-Banner records)
    • Prior year – 19,519 (11% drop attributed to implementation of unofficial transcripts halfway through year).
  • Produced approximately 4,000 "non-transcripts" per term
    • Prior year the same amount, except this year all non-transcripts were delivered electronically rather than by paper to Departments/Programs.
  • Entered 3,292 D-Plan term changes
    • Prior year - 2,730 (17% increase; reason unknown.)
  • Entered 17,335 grades
    • Grading detail:
      • Summer 09
      • Online: 1720 (49%)
      • Office: 1789
      • Fall 09
      • Online: 7573 (56.5%)
      • Office: 5823
      • Winter 10
      • Online: 6610 (57%)
      • Office: 5007
      • Spring 10
      • Online: 7418 (61%)
      • Office: 4716
    • Prior year – entered 38,870 grades; 50% reduction in office workload around grade entry in the first year of online grading
  • Processed 6,196 in-office registration actions (e.g. add/drop)
    • Prior year –5,441 (12% increase; up from 3,184 in 2007 – 49% increase in 2 years! – reason unknown )
  • Scheduled 2,085 courses:
    • Prior year - scheduled 2,080 courses
  • Reviewed and processed 994 student petitions to the Registrar
    • Prior year - 1,027 (3% decrease)
  • Processed degree and enrollment verifications for 1,549 students
    • Prior year - 1,385 (11% increase)
  • Held 21 transfer term information sessions
    • New this year; note new format of streamlined service delivery had no impact on level of participation
  • Supported students studying away on non-Dartmouth programs by processing 321 transfer term applications, 39 were for Exchange programs
    • Prior year – 325 applications for non-Dartmouth programs; 39 were for Exchange programs
  • Certified 27 Veterans
    • Prior year – 42 Veterans (36% decrease; impacted by transition of task to Tuck and DMS Registrars who now certify their own students. Processing time spent has increased, however due to participation in Yellow Ribbon Program and complex changes in Veteran’s Benefits Laws.)
  • Processed 804 citations
    • Prior year - Processed 622 citations: (24% increase; note, however, that the trend for citations overall has been decreasing slightly over a 12 year period, with a high in 2007 of 883/yr. and a 12 year average of 776/yr.)

 

 

 

 

 

Last Updated: 7/24/12