Overview of Assessment and Programmatic Change

Office of the Registrar

1989-1990

The College purchased and implemented new administrative software (Quodata). As a result, the collaborative computing services shared with Lynchburg College and Randolph-Macon Woman’s College were no longer needed, and student records were maintained and stored on site. The Registrar’s Office assumed more direct responsibility for the maintenance of these records, and with the addition of on-campus computing support, was able to respond more quickly to requests for data. End of term processing was expedited as the office no longer had to share resources with two other institutions who were on similar academic calendars. This new software also enabled the office to conduct on-line course registration and a faster response time for transcript requests.

1991-1992

Institutional research responsibilities were moved into the Registrar’s Office when the Director of Institutional Research also took the position of Registrar. Additional staffing was required to handle the combined office responsibilities.

1992-1993

The addition of networked laser printers provided the means to produce on-line transcripts in the office, thus, further reducing the time to respond to student requests. Even though greater demands were placed on the office for data and reports, cross-training of office staff and collaboration with Computer Services staff enabled the office to accommodate these requests in a timely manner.

1993-1994

The Registrar/Director of Institutional Research left the College and the two positions were again separated with the hiring of two individuals. While the Registrar’s Office continued to assist with both internal and external reporting, the primary responsibility for these reports and for assessment was in the Office of Institutional Research.

1994-1995

Transcript fees were eliminated in an effort to continue to improve customer service. The elimination of this fee allowed faster response time to transcript requests and has been very well received by both current students and alumnae. Only special handling such as overnight mail service required a fee. A fax machine was installed so that transcript requests could be accepted via fax. The previous turn-around time to fill a request was reduced from a week to ten days, depending on U.S. Postal Service to 2-3 days.

The office, as well as most other administrative offices, began moving away from using computer terminals and migrated to PC’s. This equipment resulted in better data management within the office, as well as the means to provide more complete reports to other administrative offices and academic departments. The office was able to assume responsibility for many of the reports previously done by Computer Services staff.

1996-1997

A staff position was added to the office of two persons in order to develop a web site for the Registrar’s Office. After several months of development and testing, the site provided immediate access for faculty to class lists, advisee’s academic records, academic calendar, and course schedule and catalog information. Web registration was developed and the long lines of registration day were eliminated. Students were able to see the updated status of class enrollments and schedule during the advising/registration period and were then able to make more informed decisions about their course selections to avoid closed classes and schedule conflicts.

While degree audit continued to be a manual process, degree audit sheets were designed for general education requirements and for all majors and minors. These sheets helped to find potential problems on anticipated graduates earlier in the spring semester of their senior year.

Institutional research duties were again moved into the Registrar’s Office and the position was once again a combined one of Registrar/Director of Insitutional Research. Most internal and external reporting was moved out of the Computer Services Office and done by staff in the combined office. No staff was added, but responbilities were shifted within the office. Information now available to the campus on the web helped reduce the number of requests received on a daily basis and allowed the existing staff to handle the additional IR tasks.

1997-1998

Further enhancements were made to the Registrar’s Office web site in response to suggestions from students, faculty and staff. Campus directory information was made available with password protection, a transcript request form could be printed, and e-mail addresses were added in such a way that faculty could easily use this methodology for communicating with an entire class.

The previously designed degree audit sheets continued to be used, but an updated audit was sent to every degree-seeking student and her advisor(s) after each semester. This continually updated information helped students plan their courses as it was always clear what requirements were still unsatisfied.

1999-2000

The College decided to purchase new administrative software and a committee of administrators was formed to determine the needs of the campus, to investigate what software vendors could offer, send an RFB to all possible vendors, and to make a recommendation to the President based on these findings. The Registrar served on this committee and after seven months, the recommendation was made that the College purchase the Banner 2000 product by SCT, Corp. The integrated database used by Banner would enable offices to share data and would provide consistency in reporting as all offices would use the same data rather than that in databases designed and maintained by individual offices. Access to required data would instantly come from an individual’s desktop computer rather than a few days later through phone requests for reports to be run or information retrieved from separate databases.

Until the new software could be implemented, the Registrar’s Office continued to make available information to students, faculty, and other administrators via its web site. Usage of the site was encouraged by the office staff and individual training for faculty was made available for those who had not previously made use of the site. Students were also encouraged to use the site to view grades before they were received in the mail and a procedure was added to make password changes easier.

Customer service was an area focused on by the office with the goal of improved transcript request response (same day walk-in service and 24 hour mail service) and to provide better information for advisors and students about the new general education requirements. Additional features were added to the web site to help with the selection of appropriate courses to satisfy these new requirements.

Institutional research moved to a separate office and required staff was hired. Collaborative reporting continued to be done with the Registrar’s Office.

2000-2001

The implementation of the Banner 2000 software is underway and the Registrar’s Office is scheduled to go live with the new system on July 1, 2001. The office plans to take a leading role in making information accessible campus wide through the Web for Students, Web for Faculty and Advisors and Campus Pipeline. Plans are being made to give students a more responsible role in web registration and to allow faculty to enter final grades via the web. CAPP, the automated degree audit process, will eliminate the manual paper process and will provide students and advisors such features as "what if" scenario for changes in major, etc.

Supporting Documentation:

Office of the Registrar files

Registrar’s Office web site (www.registrar.sbc.edu)