The 2023/24 academic year saw a number of changes within the office. From a new University Registrar to the renaming of the office back to the Office of the Registrar, the team has successfully navigated a number of issues and changes. The team also successfully completed a number of projects, all while maintaining the highest standards of student, faculty, and staff support.

Significant Projects

DegreeWorks

The institution began working on developing and implementing DegreeWorks in 2019. February 2024, we went live to campus with both undergraduate and, for the first time, graduate students. The rollout of the 2023/24 catalog was met well on campus, with in-person and virtual training sessions that allowed advisors to train using their own students’ live information. Training materials have allowed new advisors to quickly get up to speed with the system. Ongoing work has been completed using vendors due to a lack of staffing.

CIM Update

The Faculty Senate updated their process to approve some changes to the curriculum. This updated process was implemented in CIM this year. The new process allows for those selected changes to no longer require the Faculty Senate itself to approve the change. This type of CIM update required the vendor to actually make the changes in the system, which significantly slowed the process.

CAS Distribution Update

The overhaul of the College of Arts and Science’s distribution required significant changes in Banner, CIM, and the catalog. The team coordinated getting those changes made in the systems while the college coordinated getting the appropriate Faculty Senate committees’ approvals. This was all executed in time for the Fall 2024 registration start and the publication of the 2024/25 Academic Catalog.

Calendar Committee

The Provost tasked the Office to investigate a number of questions around the current academic calendar. Should faculty have Labor Day off? Can we take off the entire week of Thanksgiving? Can we shorten the final exam timeframe? And should we continue to take off election day? A committee of representatives of stakeholders from across campus was formed, created a survey, and surveyed the faculty on their thoughts on these questions. The Office of Institutional Data then reviewed the results of the survey and prepared a report for the committee. Upon reviewing that report, the committee made the recommendation to the Provost to leave all calendar items as they were with the exception of Election Day. Given the current political climate, the decision was ultimately made to leave Election Day as a non-instructional day.

Classrooms

The Office of the Registrar is responsible for 118 classrooms across campus, representing roughly half of the instructional spaces on the Packer and Mountaintop campuses. An initial review by the Registrar found the classrooms had significant differences in their level of maintenance and functionality. This review resulted in a subsequent review that was conducted in-person with facilities. This review allowed for significant maintenance improvements over the Winter Break, ensuring that instructional time was not interrupted. The additional review conducted at the end of the school year found that the overall level of the rooms had improved. The classroom committee has begun the process of prioritizing which classrooms will receive more significant improvements, such as replacing carpet, furniture, or potentially resizing.

FERPA

The University Registrar identified a number of potential issues with the university’s current Family Educational Rights and Privacy (FERPA) Act policy. Therefore, according to the Policy on Administrative Policies, the Registrar formed an advisory committee with individuals from the Office of General Counsel, the Provost’s Office, and Registrar’s Office staff. After a thorough review of the policy with some significant updates, it was sent to the Faculty Senate Executive Committee for faculty review. Having addressed their concerns, the policy was forwarded to the Provost for review prior to full-campus review. At that time, The Registrar and Deputy Registrar found out at a conference that the Department of Education was planning on publishing updates to FERPA, and the process was therefore stopped pending those updates.

Hiring/Staffing

In having a new Registrar, the decision was made to reevaluate the job responsibilities of everyone in the office. Although funding was not secured, the departure of two staff members allowed for the reorganization of the office to move forward. The Office of the Registrar is now reorganized in a way that allows easier scaling for the anticipated enrollment growth in the strategic plan. The reorganization also included changing back to more traditional registrarial titles, such as Deputy Registrar and Associate Registrar. 

Community Outreach

  • Student Data and Privacy Panel 9/6/23

  • Student Advisory Council Meeting 10/10/23

  • Registration 101 Presentation for advisors 10/30/23

  • Transfer Students 101: Lifecycle of Transfer Student Onboarding 12/6/23

  • Meet the Registrar 3/21/24

  • Admitted Students Days/Lehigh Fest 4/5, 4/8, 4/12, 4/13, 4/19, 4/26

  • Virtual Information Sessions for Admitted Students with OFYE 4/10

Statistics (7/1/23 - 6/30/24):

  • 192 Curriculum Changes

  • 369 Dates of Attendance Verifications

  • 1,507 Transfer Courses Evaluated

  • 1,305 Transfer Courses Posted

  • 770 Grade Changes

  • 3,224 Degree Verifications

  • 9,740 Enrollment Verifications

  • 2,022 Degrees Conferred

  • 2,366 Live Chats (7/22-6/30)

  • 7,106 Transcripts