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Registrar's Office Annual Report 2013

Annual Report 2012-2013

HIGHLIGHTS 2012-13:

• Improved the ORC/Catalog format and delivered it online (only)
• Provided leadership and support for the new Faculty policy on AP credit
• Moved classroom scheduling into the Registrar's Office from Computing
• Expanded faculty course assessment reports using a data warehouse
• Delivered eTranscripts and online transcript ordering for students and alumni
• Revised the transfer term process to support new faculty rules
• Provided Faculty access to DegreeWorks student records to support advising
• Redesigned the Registrar's Office website to make it more user-friendly
• Promoted 3 senior staff to positions of more responsibility

WHAT DO WE DO?

The Office of the Registrar maintains, preserves, and disseminates students' permanent academic record and provides services for Arts and Sciences students, faculty, and staff at Dartmouth in the areas of academic policy, enrollment and course information. Activities include course election, registration, and class scheduling, major and minor declaration, grade processing, Catalog (ORC) production, graduation support, academic transcript delivery, and student enrollment management.

AND we also:

• develop and publish the academic calendar
• provide guidance about the academic curriculum
• act as a central academic information source for the College
• schedule centrally reserved classrooms and final examinations

We:

• manage on-line course assessment and reporting
• certify recipients of Veteran's Administration educational benefits
• oversee student enrollment patterns and "D"-Plans
• manage Faculty elections to committees
• review student academic petitions for exceptions to faculty policies
• administer support for students who study off-campus while on a leave term
• support transfer students and manage the transfer credit process

In addition we:

• report enrollment to the National Student Clearinghouse to support financial aid and student loans
• provide Degree and Enrollment verification support for students
• provide Apostille notarization for international recognition of credentials
• manage Banner (student system) processes and security access
• train and support Department/Program Administrators on course and course system management
• assist with First-year seminar and Writing 5 enrollments

And also, we:

• lead internal, cross-divisional and institution-wide projects
• provide reporting services to UG Arts and Sciences Faculty and the Dean of the Faculty Office
• support the Dean of Faculty as a member of the Dean's Cabinet
• participate in numerous Faculty and ad hoc committees
• comply with and educate the campus about Federal, State, and Institutional legislation
• provide consulting, such as for the American University of Kuwait
• present at national conferences such as those sponsored by AACRAO
• advocate for higher education policy issues that impact our students and faculty
• Provide other registrar's offices with systems leadership, support, and oversight from the functional/technical perspective, and with standards of practices and professional leadership

GOALS AND FOCUS

Registrar's Office Major Projects 2012-13

Registrar's Office website redesign - A. Ager, project lead

• Summer 2011 - Summer 2012
  • Improved site architecture and usability
  • Modernized design

ORC/Catalog online- M. Blumenauer, M.Braz, project leads

• January 2012 - September 2012
  • Eliminated the need to print the paper ORC (departments/programs can print their own)
  • Can reuse license to upgrade other College Documents
  • Improved ability to search
  • Easier tool as well as expanded timeline for editing

Online transcript ordering and eTranscripts - A. Ager, project lead

• December 2011 - February 2013
  • Enabled online ordering and delivery of eTranscripts in a secure environment 
  • Online ordering available to students and alumni across all schools
  • eTranscripts available to all students and some alumni
  • Additional formats for the Unofficial Transcript available as well - extremely popular
  • Assisted the Professional Schools so that they could also take advantage of this technology

Faculty course assessment report expansion (data warehouse)  - A. Hunt, M. Braz, project leads

• June 2012 - December 2012
  • Faculty are now delivered improved reports to better assess their courses and teaching
  • Faculty interested in more advanced reporting may seek assistance from Amy
  • Students who currently do not have any access to the faculty course assessments may have some level of access as a result of this project in the future

Faculty access to DegreeWorks degree audits to improve student advising - K. McAdams, project lead

• December 2012 - April 2013
  • Provided faculty with access to student records to help improve advising
    

Inclusion of Academic and Term Calendars in new institution-wide Event Calendar - A. Ager, project lead

• April 2013 - July 2013
  
  • Ensure academic events are included in institution-wide calendar and that constituents can take advantage of key features such as mobile access
  • Ability to deliver key academic events to broader audiences

Online Major Declaration - K. McAdams, project lead

• March 2013 - will continue into AY 2013-14
  
  • Eliminates an archaic paper process that Faculty wish to upgrade
  • Provides tools to students and faculty for academic program planning
  • Provide students with leading edge technology

Credits & Exemptions Improvements - A. Ager, J. Sinclair, project leads

• April 2013 -will continue into AY 2013-14
  
  • Update custom articulation and roll to history code
  • Provide access for Departments/Programs to submit placement results after the roll to academic history
  • Account for differing requirements pre- and post-Class of 2018 due to new prematriculation credit regulations
  • Reduce risk by replacing old technology with new, better supported systems
  • Improve the efficiency of pre-matriculation credit processing so that students know immediately what courses and tests have articulated and can better choose their courses

Course Approval Routing System - K. McAdams, project lead

• April 2013 - will continue into AY 2013-14
  
  • Reduces paper consumption by creating an online process for approving new courses and crosslistings
  • Eliminates confusion over who approves what
  • Creates a course database for reference
  • Allows faculty anywhere in the world to input curricula for approval

Timetable application - A. Ager, A. Hunt, project leads

• April 2013 - December 2013 (est.)
  
  • Creates an online application for scheduling courses term to term
  • Improve communication among departments/programs, Registrar, and Blackboard Services
  • Streamline data entry and integrate disparate data sources into Banner
  • Allows the College to better utilize its classroom resources

LOOKING AHEAD

Summer Faculty Balloting update - M. Blumenauer, K. McAdams, project leads

• May 2013 - July 2013
  
  • Improve overall Faculty Balloting interface
  • Add the Summer votes for CPR and Committee of Chairs elections

Major/Minor Completions online - K. McAdams, project lead

• Fall 2013 - Winter 2014
  • Create a web-based application for departments/programs to submit information on their major and minor completions
  • Eliminate another paper process
  • Speeds up the major/minor certification process significantly
  • Reduces data entry errors

Music Contracts integration with Banner registration process - A. Ager, project lead

• Fall 2013 - Winter 2014
  • Eliminates complex paper- and departmentally-based system
  • Provides improved tracking of ON grade types
  • Removes secondary system from registration process

Course Descriptions into Banner - project lead TBD

• Fall 2013 - Winter 2014
  • Load ORC course descriptions into Banner, so all course data is in a single system

D-Plan Changes Online Phase 2- A. Ager, project lead

• Builds on the current D-Plan online to add additional features not included in the first phase to reduce manual tasks
• Allows additional populations of students to make online changes, such as international students and students returning from administrative withdrawal

Hickory Migration - A. Hunt, project lead

• A series of reports and small projects that will allow the office to become independent from VMS, old technology which Computing has wished to decommission for a long time

Concurrent Curricula - project lead TBD

• Analysis of implementing Concurrent Curricula in Banner; impacts all schools

 Student Data Warehouse - A. Hunt, project lead

• Build a data warehouse for Banner Student data, incorporating all reporting and tracking across administrative departments
• Lead the professional and graduate school registrars to include all Dartmouth student data

Off-Campus Programs into Course Assessment - A. Hunt, project lead

• Integrate the Off-Campus courses into Course Assessment

Other Technical Projects

We continue to serve as a resource for other offices on campus that require our expertise when possible. We also participate in projects that impact all campus users, and engage in several internal projects that do not involve outside entities. Some of the larger ones included:

• Banner 8.5 upgrade; K. McAdams
• Group photo project (for President's Office); M. Braz
• Assisted with Faculty Leave application, Dean of Faculty office; A. Ager
• Conversion to laptop computers and upgrades; office
• New transfer term application process – streamlined process to support the changes made by the COI; J. Sinclair
• Citation tool update - improved faculty assignment, allowance for pre-Banner data; A. Ager
• Special Topics renumbering - internal project to ensure all courses have a unique number so that students may view course descriptions using new technologies; J. Sinclair, A. Hunt
• Faculty Balloting improvements – improved data integrity; M. Blumenauer, K. McAdams
• Pre-Matriculation Portal project, assistance; A. Ager

Additional initiatives, outcomes and collaborations:

• Successfully implemented the first fall term where the calendar ended by Thanksgiving; office
• Participated in technology-enabled committee, working with faculty and staff to look at the possibility of participating in MOOCs and other online learning (resulting in a recommendation)
• Collaborated with Financial Aid on the Student portion of Dartmouth's A-133 audit; K. McAdams, J. Sinclair
• Assisted the American University of Kuwait in a search for a new Registrar
• Partnered with the Committee on Instruction to pass legislation on AP, to implement new transfer term policies, and to explore establishing a new exchange with the University of Otago
• Participated as a member of the Curricular Review Committee and acted as a liaison with Tom Hier, classroom scheduling consultant to recommend a possible change to the class schedule
• M. Braz published an article in AACRAO journal College and University, Vol. 8 No. 2, Fall 2012 as part of their Leadership Series, which was republished in the book Leadership Lessons:  Vision and Values for a New Generation, AACRAO, ed. Lonabocker, 2013.

 

Production

• Communication and student data processing consume the largest amount of our production time (24% and 17%)
• Spring term has the largest number of production items
• March, May, and June have the most production items (as expected, with graduation, two course elections, and deadlines for major declaration and initial D-Plan selection).
• Fall is also busy with the arrival of new students and the start of the academic year.

In summary, we are focusing more than ½ of our production time on our key priorities: service (communications), records work (student data processing) and reporting service. Note, this does not include service data we are unable to capture here such as phone calls, emails, faxes and walk-in service.

Production Items – Explanation/samples from each category
Communications: Sending of formal memos to faculty and department and program administrators; Sending of e-mails (including D2U now) to faculty, students and other departments and programs; Mailing major and minor standings; Publishing updates to the Registrar’s website
Course Processing: Timetable, priorities and prerequisites data entry; Course Election processing; Course Assessment; COI meetings
Data Integrity: Proofing distributives, course titles and other timetable data; Checking for missing grades; Faculty Load error processing Events: ORC Dates and Deadlines; Board of Trustees meetings; Events in other offices such as Admissions, Student Financial Services or the Dean of the College area that generate tasks for the Registrar’s Office
Reporting: All formal and ad hoc Registrar’s Office reports; Internal reports such as course election snapshots, graduation reports, and lists of faculty teaching by term; Reports to external sources such as the National Student Clearinghouse and AMCAS
Student Data Processing: Transcript production; Processing major and minor cards; Graduation processing; Processing transfer term applications; Transfer student credit evaluation and processing; Repeat course processing; 2/4 course processing; D-Plan selection and changes; VA certifications
Systems Management: General Banner settings (GTVSDAX, SOATERM); Configuring Check-in; Setting e-term records; Configuring Course Election; Configuring Course Assessment; NRO setting

• Committee of Chairs
• Committee on Instruction
• Committee on Withdrawals
• Enrollment Committee
• Classroom Subcommittee
• Computing Oversight Committee – Chair
• Dartmouth Information Security Council
• Dartmouth Registrar’s Committee – Chair
• Curricular Review Committee
• Dartmouth Mobile Systems Committee
• Language Waiver Committee - (Associate Registrar for Curriculum & Graduation attends)
• Committee on Student Life
• E-Textbook Committee
• Technology Enabled Education Committee
• Learning Management Systems Committee (Senior Associate Registrar for Research attends)
• President's Administrative Forum
• Multiple ad hoc committees

• AACRAO – American Association of Collegiate Registrars and Admissions Officers. Appointed to national Public Policy Committee. – Year 3.
• AACRAO 98th Annual Meeting, San Francisco, CA.
• AACRAO –Nominated Vice President for Records and Academic Services and President-Elect
• NEACRAO – New England Association of Collegiate Registrars and Admissions Officers, Executive Board.
• NEACRAO 65th Annual Meeting, Portsmouth, NH - Presenter.
• Ivy+ Registrars Annual Meeting, MIT, Cambridge, MA
  
• Faculty at AACRAO/Vanderbilt Institute for Senior Professionals in Academic and Enrollment Services, Nashville, TN

• AACRAO Registrar 101 – online course (1 staff participant)
• AACRAO 98th Annual Meeting, San Francisco, CA (1 staff Presented)
• NEACRAO 65th Annual Meeting, Portsmouth, NH (1 staff presented; 1 staff committee member)
• Ivy+ Registrars Annual Meeting, MIT, Cambridge, MA (1 attendee)
• NEBUG Annual Meeting, Durham, NH (1 attendee)
• AACRAO Technology Conference, Chicago, IL (1 presenter)

 

Academic Year	Banner Transcripts
2009	19,159
2010	17,245
2011	16,561
2012	13,819
2013	12,237

Unofficial Banner Transcripts were made available to students in December of 2009, and unofficial eTranscripts were made available to students in January 2013, which have contributed to the continuing decrease in the overall official transcript volume.

We also produced approximately 4,000 "non-transcripts" which are unofficial student grade records delivered to departments and programs at the conclusion of each term.

Managed 5,520 D-Plan term changes

	Academic Year
	2009	2010	2011	2012	2013
Manual Changes	4,574	4,944	4,218	3,621	3,991
Online Changes	0	0	1,474	1,619	1,529
Total	4,574	4,944	5,692	5,240	5,520

D-Plan changes were made available to students online in November of 2010; however there is still a large volume of changes that must be made manually. It is disappointing to see the manual volume rise this year over last year. The D-Plan Phase 2 project should help to reverse this again, and reduce the manual volume.

 

 

Processed 441 in-office registration actions (e.g. add/drop):

Term	Academic Year
	2009	2010	2011	2012	2013
Summer	244	420	374	54	37
Fall	1,956	2,128	2,292	323	247
Winter	1,399	1,736	1,622	130	56
Spring	1,842	1,915	85	100	101
Total	5,441	6,199	4,373	607	441

New Course Election system implemented for Spring 2011 election and add/drop resulted in a dramatic drop in in-office registration actions. This has continued to drop.

Managed scheduling and offering of 2,177 courses:

 

Term	Academic Year
	2009	2010	2011	2012	2013
Total	2,024	2,039	2,062	2,106	2,177

Each course count represents every offering with a unique subject, course number and title combination with the exception of cross-listed courses which are counted once. Off-Campus Study courses are included. The number of courses offered each year continues to rise.

 

Assigned 1,984 courses to classrooms from the academic schedule*, and 775 courses to classrooms for final examinations.

*Does not include classrooms assigned for small arranged courses, language drills, or other ad-hoc classroom assignments.

Reviewed and processed 989 student petitions to the Registrar

Petition Type	Petition Count
	2009	2010	2011	2012	2013
Change in Grade	145	121	150	259	123
Add Course After Deadline	104	82	93	134	122
Drop Course After Deadline	45	31	38	36	19
Additional 2-Course Load	41	34	40	43	40
Additional 4-Course Load	35	25	27	30	28
Unlimited 2-Course Load	0	1	5	1	5
NRO After Deadline	7	9	5	2	4
NRO Grade Chg After Deadline	0	2	1	0	0
Repeat Course for Grade Only	5	6	6	4	3
Postpone Summer Term	8	7	8	8	8
Waive Summer Term	53	58	69	53	47
Exempt Summer Term	15	16	20	20	20
Additional Term in Residence	64	75	90	85	84
Five+ Year Enrollment Pattern	76	73	80	83	89
Reduce Sr Yr Residence Req	326	318	332	343	305
Late Exchange of Courses	0	20	44	19	39
Late Check-in Fee Waiver	36	35	31	39	33
Late D-Plan Change Fee Waiver	23	10	23	20	8
Reduced Tuition	0	2	2	4	12
Total	983	927	1,064	1,183	989

The number of grade changes was increasing, from 14.8% of petitions in 2009 to 21.9% of petitions in 2012. However in 2013, the number dropped from the prior year to 12.4% of petitions, and the total number of both grade changes and petitions was quite a bit lower than the prior year.

The total number of senior year residence requirement petitions dropped to its lowest number in 5 years. We have not accounted for why there has been a drop in petitions.

 

 

Processed degree and enrollment verifications for 430 students, 1,727 provided electronically.

	2009	2010	2011	2012	2013
Manual Verifications	1,385	1,549	1,332	754	430
Self-Service Enrollment Verifications	0	0	0	294	1,727
Total	1,385	1,549	1,332	1,048	2,157

Self-service enrollment verifications became available to students in April of 2012, which has led to a significant reduction in the office workload in this area, allowing staff to focus on higher level tasks.

 

Supported 101 students studying away on non-Dartmouth programs, and 43 students on exchange programs.

Transfer Term Students

	2009	2010	2011	2012	2013
Summer	71	70	105	64	39
Fall	66	43	46	54	42
Winter	83	82	86	122	15
Spring	20	16	13	8	5
TOTAL	240	211	250	248	101

Note: The significant drop in the number of transfer term students is a result of new policies on the part of the COI regarding participation in transfer terms.

Exchange Program Students

Year	2009	2010	2011	2012	2013
Number of Students	39	39	46	37	43

 

Certified 40 VA Benefit recipients

	2011	2012	2013
Graduate Students	9	12	8
Undergraduate Students	26	28	32
Chapter 31	4	2	2
Chapter 30	6	3	1
Chapter 35	4	5	7
Chapter 33: Post 9/11 GI Bill recipients	21	30	30
Students eligible for the Yellow Ribbon program	11	25	24
TOTAL	35	40	40

Our Office certifies Graduate as well as Undergraduate VA benefit recipients. 

 

Graduated 1,059 students

Term	Graduates
	2009	2010	2011	2012	2013
Summer	13	17	22	27	35
Fall	27	40	32	31	24
Winter	28	25	38	30	31
Spring	998	1,003	984	1,005	969
Total	1,066	1,085	1,076	1,093	1,059