As we adapt within the broader higher educational environment to the multiple, complex changes which proceed at an increasingly accelerated pace, the Arts & Sciences Registrar’s Office practices a flexible and nimble service model that is responsive to and aligned with the goals of the Institution.

We believe that we contribute to the success of society’s most talented and intelligent students and distinguished faculty members. Our dedicated support and advancement of Dartmouth’s systems and structures, as we safeguard the integrity of the institution’s regulations and records, facilitates their ability to thrive and achieve their fullest potential.

The Arts & Sciences Registrar’s Office will maintain its primary focus on students and faculty members while we continuously improve their access to information and their ability to perform tasks independently at their convenience. It will support faculty members' teaching and research through the continued development of advanced administrative applications and the provision of student data.

Our vision is supported by these principles. Each one is connected to various projects or initiatives. In the Projects section, each project displays icons connected to these Principles.

Student and Faculty Focus 

• We maintain a focus on students and faculty members as our primary constituents. We dedicate most of our time, resources, and initiatives to their support.

Self-service 

• We develop tools for students and faculty members so they can access needed information at their convenience.

Partnership 

• We partner with other offices to support Dartmouth's larger mission. Coordination and collaboration with the other offices permits greater institutional support for initiatives which positively impact faculty members and students.

Shared Accountability 

• We are the experts in our area, and respect other offices’ expertise and responsibilities. We also respect our students and their responsibility to be accountable for their administrative obligations. 

Continuous Improvement 

• We revisit our processes continually, introduce new applications to remain up to date with current issues, and adapt to new technologies as required to better serve faculty members and students.

Statement on Diversity and Inclusion

The Arts & Sciences Registrar’s Office supports the College's efforts toward diversity and inclusion through our recruitment and retention of staff, professional development, and College committee work.

Recruitment, Retention, and Staff Support

The Arts & Sciences Registrar’s Office works to create an environment that is welcoming, diverse and inclusive of all staff which includes frequent all-staff meetings, one-on-one meetings with supervisors and smaller focused team meetings. This extends to the environment we create for our students. Each staff member develops a professional development plan based on the AACRAO competencies and proficiencies.

The Arts & Sciences Registrar’s Office staff is a mix of ages, genders, backgrounds, married/single, and ethnicities which includes our student employees. All are exceptionally talented hard workers despite little recognition. They support each other, work well with faculty and staff in other offices, and help to create an environment of inclusiveness where everyone has a voice. Multiple staff of various backgrounds have been promoted within the office to more responsible positions.

Senior Associate Registrar Ager continues to respond to student feedback and coordinate with ITC to make updates to the Chosen Name system.

Staff have attended several trainings hosted by Human Resources as well as NEACRAO conference sessions on DACA and student diversity issues.

When hiring new staff, the Arts & Sciences Registrar’s Office has implemented a process to redact applicant resumes to reduce bias within the hiring process and improve the likelihood that diverse candidates will progress through the hiring process.

Personnel Updates:

Registrar Parsons, working with staff partners, oversaw the following personnel events:

• Senior Associate Registrar for Operations – Promotion
  • Partners – Andrew Ager, Courtney Tipker
• Associate Registrar for Operations and Policy – Promotion
  • Partner – José Sinclair
• Assistant Registrar for Curriculum, Course Management, and Operations – Promotion
  • Partners – José Sinclair, Courtney Tipker
• Assistant Registrar for Certification and Compliance – Recruitment and Hire
  • Partner – José Sinclair
• Service Specialist – Revised position (temporary to permanent)
  • Partner – José Sinclair
• 3 General Office Assistants PT (Student Workers) – Recruitment and Hire
  • Partner – Catherine Woodard

COVID-19 Policy adjustments

• Adjustment to matriculating transfer student credit regulations to account for remote education that occurred during the pandemic
  • Partner - Committe on Instruction
• PE Degree Requirement adjustments for students graduating in 2024 and 2025 academic years
  • Partner - Committe on Instruction, Physical Education

Non-COVID-19 Policy support

• Guided curricular changes in multiple departments
  • Partners – See Curricular Change Projects below
• Language Requirement changes for the class of 2026
  • Partner – Committee on Instruction
• Revision of Academic Honor Principle
  • Partners – Committee on Instruction, Provost, Dean of Faculty
• Clarification of Residency Requirement in ORC/Catalog
  • Partners – Committee on Instruction, Provost, Dean of Faculty, Office of General Counsel
• Transfer credit policy for Tuck 001, 002, and 003 courses
  • Partner – Committee on Instruction
• Adjustment and simplification of final grade deadline for faculty
  • Partner – Committee on Instruction
• Wellness Requirement development
  • Partners – Committee on Instruction, Student Wellness Center, Physical Education
• Elimination of 50-yard swim test requirement
  • Partners – Committee on Instruction, Student Wellness Center, Physical Education
• Revised 2-course load petition process
  • Partners – Committee on Instruction, Undergraduate Deans Office
• Revision to OFASDC to include policy on Title IX Council and Administration of Preferential Ballots
  • Partner - Committee on Organization and Policy
• Adjustment/Clarification of policy on transfer credit from community colleges
  • Partner – Committee on Instruction
• Adjustment/Extension of transfer term deadline for fall term 2022
  • Partner – Committee on Instruction
• Modified Weekly Class Schedule based on feedback during the pandemic
  • Partner – Committee on Instruction
• Revised implementation details of Median Grade publication
  • Partner – Committee on Instruction

D-Plan Application Update - A. Ager, D. Mauceli, project leads

• January 2020 - February 2022
  • In partnership with the Dali Lab and ITC, development of a new user interface for the student D-Plan selection tool in DartHub, including the ability to manage two sets of D-Plan regulations
  • Project launched February 2022

D-Plan Petitions Online - J. Sinclair, project lead

• March 2021 - ongoing
  • This project integrates D-Plan petitions with the D-Plan change tool, set to launch in early fall 2022.
  • Partnership with the Dali Lab for the initial design.

Faculty Balloting Enhancement  - J. Sinclair, project lead

• October 2021 - January 2022
  • This project enhanced the Faculty Balloting system by adding links to faculty profiles and CVs to the voting ballots.

Continuous Improvement Projects

Scribe Minors in DegreeWorks - C. Tipker, project lead

• Added the following minors to DegreeWorks:
  • Anthropology
  • History
  • Education
  • Geography

Developed Alternative Hybrid/Remote Work Schedule Option - J. Sinclair, C. Tipker, project leads

• September 2021 - March 2022.
• Developed hybrid/remote alternative schedule option for staff while maintaining necessary staffing levels in-person and accommodating in-person weekly all staff meetings.

Published DartWorks and Course Election Video Guide - A. Bigelow, project lead

• August 2021 - March 2022
• Published Video Guides to assist students with major declaration and course election processes.

Transfer Credit Business Process Review - D. Mauceli, project lead

• January 2022 - ongoing
• Review and improve forms (both external and internal) and processes for the review and application of transfer credit.

Department/Program Administrator Workshops (Zoom) - A. Bigelow, project lead

• November 2021 - April 2022
• Developed a series of trainings and workshops for Department/Program Administrators to learn Registrar systems and processes.

Incoming Transfer Student Business Process Review - D. Mauceli, E. Parsons, project leads

• August 2021 - ongoing
• Work with Admissions Offices to review and improve timeline for incoming transfer student credit evaluation and review.

Implement SharePoint cloud electronic file system - C. Woodard, project lead

• May 2022 - ongoing
• Move all office electronic files to new Sharepoint sites, improving organization.

Enhanced Course Election results report - A. Ager, project lead

• Februrary 2022 - April 2022
• Updated course election results report for departments and programs using the data warehouse.

Enhanced Final Examination Information Collection process - A. Ager, project lead

• April 2022
• Shifted to a single spreadsheet shared over Sharepoint to Department/Program Chairs and Administrators to collect final examination information rather than sending 40+ spreadsheets via email.

Curricular Change Projects

Implementation of new or updated majors/minors - C. Tipker, project lead

• For the following departments/programs:
  • Anthropology
  • Comparative Literature
  • Linguistics
  • Physics
  • Studio Art

Implemented Department Name Change from Native American Studies to Native American and Indigenous Studies – C. Tipker, project lead

• Updated various systems, processes and reports with new name and new department code (NAIS)

Implemented Change from Programs to Departments – C. Tipker, project lead

• Updated various systems, processes, and reports to reflect new department status for
  • African and African-American Studies
  • Latin American, Latino, and Caribbean Studies

Implemented Psychology and Brain Sciences move to Sciences Division – C. Tipker, project lead

• Updated various systems, processes, and reports to reflect new division

Implemented removal of Distributive and World Culture attributes from all First-Year Seminars – C. Tipker, project lead

• Committee of Chairs
• Committee on Instruction
• Committee on Withdrawals
• Provost's Advisory Committee on Enrollment Management
• Language Waiver Committee
• Classroom Committee
• Teaching Transition Coordination Group
• Multiple ad hoc committees

Production Activity

"Production" activities are those that are required in the usual academic cycle. Additional time is spent on "projects," and "service" which are described in the next section. Below are representations of our main functions and some general measurements of time spent on production.

We focus approximately ½ of our production activity on student and faculty communications and processing of student data, and ½ of our production time on internal records and system management. 

While we are busy year-round:

• Spring Term has the largest number of production items
• The months that have the most production items are May, June, and September.

Service Measurement Data

We dedicate most of our time and resources to the support of our primary constituents, Dartmouth’s undergraduate students and faculty members. Below is a summary of the direct services we provided our constituents during the 2021-2022 academic year.

• Addressed over 34,500 inquiries in total from constituents via emails (93%), phone calls (5%), and walk-ins (2%).
• The rate of inquiries was equally high across the entire year, with only a slight slowdown in December while the College was closed for winter break.

In the past year, we addressed over 34,500 inquiries directed to our primary email account (registrar@dartmouth.edu). These inquiries addressed a wide range of topics, including registration, course building, D-Plans, petitions, transcripts, degree verification, classroom scheduling, and academic policy questions; single inquiries often addressed a variety of topics as well, requiring multiple staff members to engage with them.

In the past year, the Registrar's Office Staff:

• Processed 7,772 official transcripts from Banner
• Managed scheduling and offering of 2,293 courses:
• Reviewed and processed 1,027 student petitions to the Registrar
• Processed 1,999 enrollment verifications, 1,750 of which were provided electronically
• We supported 76 students studying away on non-Dartmouth programs (both transfer terms and exchanges). While transfer term regulations were eased in spring 2020 in response to the global pandemic, travel restrictions limited the number of opportunities in 2020-21.
• Certified 61 VA Benefit recipients
• Graduated 1,050 undergraduate students