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Office of the Registrar

Important Dates

May 16-21: Exams

May 22: Senior

Grades Due by 9am

May 25:

Commencement

June 3: Summer I

Registration

July 10: Summer II

Registration

SPRING 2013

Going Green: Paperless Initiatives in the Registrar's Office

Melissa Holmes, Assistant Registrar

NEWSLETTER

Contact Us:

Alamance Building

Room 102

Ph: 336.278.6677

registrar@elon.edu

The Registrar’s Office is thinking green this spring

and we’re not just talking about the beautiful landscaping

around campus!

The registrar is responsible for maintaining the integrity of

Elon’s institutional academic records. Developments in technology are

impacting how we can now perform this function. Previous Registrar,

Mark Albertson, began the process by overseeing the scanning and

cataloging of paper transcript records that dated from the Fire of 1923

to 1980. He, along with Nicole Jones, Assistant Registrar, also

(Continued on page 4)

I am pleased to write my first article for the new

Office of the Registrar Newsletter. As I write, it has

been approximately 4 months since I joined this

outstanding community here at Elon University. With

so many changes going on in the office, the team felt

we needed to do something comprehensive to keep

the community abreast of all the changes. Thus, this

bi-annual newsletter will serve as our means to

communicate news and coming changes.

I want to start with the vision of the Registrar’s Office. As you may notice,

several changes are under way to support a paperless environment. These

initiatives include PDF transcripts, online grade changes, student withdrawal

processes, creation of fillable PDF documents, and streamlining policies to

eliminate the need for paper documentation. All of these initiatives are in line

with our peer and aspirational institutions and the growing student demand to

have electronic services available to them 24/7.

Current business practices throughout the office are being documented and

analyzed for efficiency and members of the Registrar’s Office are being

encouraged to cross-train in multiple areas of the office to better serve the

community. As you flip through this newsletter, you will notice articles from

many members of the team providing you updates on what is happening in their

areas. I want to encourage everyone to reach out to us with ideas, questions, or

concerns as we strive to improve our customer service.

Registrar’s Corner: The First of Many

Rodney L. Parks, Ph.D. University Registrar

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Coming Soon! 2

Policy Updates 3

Online Catalog 4

QEP 5

VA Benefits 5

Procedural Research 6

Employee Spotlight 7

New Asst. Registrar 9

New Digs! 10

Graduation Updates 10

Inside this Issue

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Coming Soon to an Inbox Near You!

Karen Pore, Associate Registrar

The Registrar’s office has partnered with Parchment, Inc. to provide new and improved transcript

services to our students and alumni. Beginning in early summer, transcript ordering will be completely

accessible online. Online ordering will allow students and alumni to log in to a secure site, enter all the

required information to request a transcript, pay the transcript fee and track the status of their transcript all

with a few clicks of a button. Streamlining this procedure will give the requestor more information on

where their transcript is in the process and will also make transcript ordering much more convenient than

the current process of mailing a request form and check.

But wait, there’s more!

After online transcript ordering is activated, our technology team will move on to

the next phase of the newly improved transcript service. Work is already

underway to provide students and alumni with instant access to a secure .pdf of

their official transcript. We envision .pdf delivery to be one of our most cutting

edge service upgrades. Students will be able to request a transcript online and

the link to their secure transcript will be sent to the email addresses of their

approved receivers. The document link will be active for that receiver for a limited

time only. The next great part: the tracking service available will allow the transcript requestor to see when

the transcript is both received and when the .pdf is opened. This new speedy information flow will be

much appreciated by job seekers and applicants to graduate schools where deadlines can sneak up on us

all.

But if you call in the next 10 minutes…

Our team is not going to stop at just providing improved ordering and secure 24-hour .pdf delivery. We

plan to think outside the box and allow our students to provide an even more well-rounded view of what an

Elon education is all about. We are working with members of Student Life to provide secure .pdf delivery

of the Elon Experiences transcript in addition to the academic transcript when requested. An Elon

education is all about engaged learning and its experiential hallmarks like internships, research, study

abroad, service and leadership. Many of these experiences happen in the classroom, but Elon students also

take their participation outside of classroom walls and that is why we want to enable them to show these

achievements as well as their academic work to their future employers or graduate schools. We foresee

giving students the ability to send the Elon Experiences transcript along with their official academic

transcript when using our new transcript ordering system.

Keep an eye on the Registrar’s website and Elon Ontrack to keep up with the progress of this new

service. Coming soon to an inbox near you…

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We have two recently approved policy updates to the process for posting undergraduate transfer

credit on a student’s transcript. These two changes were designed to provide clarity to transcript readers

about the type and level of courses transferred to Elon from other institutions.

When an incoming transfer course matches a current Elon offering, the transcript listing will now

show the Elon course number and the Elon course title. When an incoming transfer course does not match

a current Elon offering but falls within a subject area offered at Elon, the course will be posted to the

student’s academic transcript showing the content area and the academic level of the course. For example,

a 100 level English course is designated as ENG 1XX, a 200 level Business course BUS 2XX, etc.

Previously, these courses would be listed as ELE for 100/200 level courses and ADV for 300/400

level courses under the transcript header CRS NO.

Interdisciplinary courses which fall within one of Elon’s general studies categories will continue to

be posted as electives within the appropriate category (e.g., EXP, SCY, CIV, SCI) at the appropriate level

(i.e., 1XX, 2XX, 3XX, 4XX).

Beginning June 1, the definition of the Incomplete Policy will be modified. The system currently

calculates the earned hours with zero quality points for a grade of incomplete (i.e., it has the same effect on

the student’s GPA as an F). The new proposal will remove the Attempted Hours component giving

students the ability to complete the work without a cumulative GPA impact until the grade is changed to an

appropriate letter grade.

Additionally, a new step to the process will require adjunct faculty to complete an Incomplete

Grade Contract Form prior to entering an “I” grade for a student. The new form would give the

Department Chair the ability to work with a student if the adjunct professor does not assign an appropriate

letter grade before the deadline.

In the past, an adjunct may have moved without leaving a forwarding address, thus creating

difficulties of assigning a final grade. All faculty will be encouraged to use the new form thereby creating

a contract between the student and the faculty member on coursework remaining. The form will be kept in

the student’s permanent academic record.

Transfer Credit

Rodney Parks, Registrar

Incomplete Policy

Rodney Parks, Registrar

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(Going Green: Continued from cover page)

launched the scanning of currently enrolled student files into an electronic format, which will phase out all

paper copies of student academic folders by fall of 2014.

Current Registrar, Dr. Rodney Parks, is advancing the team’s efforts even further. This spring, the

office is reducing the amount of paper used on a daily basis. These efforts include the use of SharePoint

to create online forms, which are currently being tested for full rollout this summer. The grade change

form and the drop/add forms are the first on the list of many changes expected to move to a completely

online format. All forms that were once printed in-office and required students to come to the Registrar’s

office are now available as .pdf fillable forms on our website under “services” and “forms”. We

introduced these earlier this spring as a step toward developing workflows and processes that will

eventually be available for complete online form submission.

Karen Pore, Associate Registrar, is working with her technology team to launch online transcript

ordering and .pdf delivery service which is scheduled to be available online later this

summer.

We are excited about the changes that are both sustainable and more easily

accessible to our campus community and will keep you updated as we continue to

evaluate our office processes and move forward with the development of more user

and Earth friendly paperless processes.

In the spirit of being responsible and sustainable with our natural resources, the

Registrar’s Office is pleased to announce that, beginning Fall 2013, it will publish

the Undergraduate, iMedia, MBA and M.Ed Schedule of Classes only in its online

form, maintaining and increasing advisors’ and students’ ability to find and select

courses while at the same time saving thousands of pieces of paper and thousands of

dollars in printing costs. Over the past few years the demand for a paper schedule

booklet has decreased sharply, with a growing number of advisors and students

opting to use OnTrack for course selection. In addition to the OnTrack information,

we will continue to publish a PDF version of the Schedule of Classes which will

now be updated “real-time” with corrections that occur after the release of the

schedule.

While we recognize that some users may miss the comfort of using a paper schedule, course

information frequently changed between the printing deadline and the arrival of the printed booklet. The

paper copy was incorrect even before it was received. The OnTrack schedule listing under Search for

Sections has always provided real-time schedule information. We now going to add regular updates to the

PDF of the schedule booklet to keep it as current as possible.

Your continued support of the efforts of the Registrar’s Team to advance services for the ever-changing

needs of our dynamic Elon community is much appreciated. We look forward to hearing your

observations about the new process.

Fall Schedule

Rodney Parks, Registrar

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Deciphering the ins and outs of VA Educational Benefits can be quite an undertaking. The complexity

of the requirements and applications can make a student using VA benefits feel overwhelmed. This is

where my role as School Certifying Official (SCO) comes in handy and hopefully streamlines the process

of initiating these benefits.

There are several different types of educational benefit programs that are offered through the VA.

They are:

Post 9/11 GI Bill (Chapter 33)

Montgomery GI Bill (Chapter 30) (Active Duty and Selected Reserve)

Reserve GI Bill (Chapter 1606)

REAP (Chapter 1607)

Dependent Education Assistance (DEA) (Chapter 35)

The first step a Veteran should take is to determine what benefit program they qualify for and which

one best meets their needs. The GI Bill Website has a wealth of tools that will help in making these

Veteran Educational Benefits

Nicole Jones, Assistant Registrar

The Office of the Registrar is pleased to support a number of ongoing research and writing for

publication initiatives. Current research to support this initiative is being conducted by Student Workers

under the guidance of Dr. Parks and includes:

Brett Evans (Senior, Religion): Motivations and Enculturation of Older Students Returning to a

Traditional University: A qualitative study investigating the meaning of the experiences of seven

students participating in a 62-and-over reduced tuition program at a large, traditional Southeastern

university.

Brett Evans: Vegetarian and Vegan Friendly Campus? Issues in attracting and supporting plant-based

students in universities, a qualitative study aimed at recruitment and retention.

Ashley Edwards (Junior, Psychology): Transgenderism and the College Experience: Transitioning

challenges during higher education, a phenomenological case study approach to examine the unique

experiences of two transgender students who began their transition during their college years at a

large, Southeastern university.

Leah Hayes (Junior, Psychology): The Displaced Student: Reverse transfer students and enrollment

management of women experiencing a traumatic event on-campus, phenomenology research

aimed at higher educational professionals in students support services.

Chelsea Helms (Senior, Finance): Chelsea just completed a SACRAO Newsletter article titled:

The Role of the Registrar: A Student’s Perspective (www.sacrao.org)

Stafford McIntyre: (Junior, Computer Science) Stafford is currently working on an interactive map for

our website that will allow students to see the walking distance between campus buildings.

Registrar’s Commitment to the QEP & Academic Challenge

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After 32 years in the Registrar’s Office, I discovered that gaining a new Registrar

meant researching and evaluating all of our office/business processes to see what

other institutions were practicing and considering whether we could make our

office better. Shortly after his arrival this January, Dr. Parks encouraged me to

research other schools across the nation for information on diploma ordering and

transcript policies to see how we compare to our peers and aspirational institutions.

This was a new and exciting venture for me. After looking at 25 universities and

colleges, I found that transcript policies vary from state to state and school to

school, and they all process transcripts in a variety of ways. The processing time

with the larger universities varied along with the mailing process itself. Some universities still process

transcripts in person while also responding to mail-in requests, email, fax and online requests. Others are

completely online. The fees associated with the transcripts vary from $2 to $15 plus additional costs if

transcripts are to be sent overnight or by Fed Ex. The additional mailing costs also varied from institution

to institution.

The research on printing diplomas was a different story. I researched peer and aspirant universities via

email or phone and found that several institutions used the same company while some chose “in-house”

printing. Several of the larger universities have used the same company for at least 30 years. One of the

universities I contacted uses their own print shop for producing their diplomas and is very pleased with that

process. They also employ their own graphics designer in the print shop. I also found variance in the types

of covers other schools use. Some of the schools do not use hard covers, except with their Doctorate

Degrees. Two of the schools interviewed only use plastic sleeves for the protection of the diplomas while

others used hard covers with all diplomas.

The research shows there is a wide variation among higher education institutions concerning the

policies and vendors used in transcript and diploma processing by registrar offices. We will continue to

investigate the way we process our own transcripts and diploma orders and hope to have exciting news in

the near future regarding both.

Procedural Research

Cheryl Loy, Registration/Graduation Assistant

decisions. Once this determination is made, the next step is to apply. After this application is submitted,

either online or a hardcopy by mail, the veteran or veteran dependent should contact the SCO at the

academic institution. From this point the SCO will review the student’s account, prepare and submit an

enrollment certification to the VA.

For students using the Post 9/11 GI Bill, the 2013-14 academic school year tuition and fee cap is

$19,198.31. This is a figure that will help students plan financially for the upcoming academic year.

Every VA account is going to be different. Some are going to be for the veteran and others are going

to be instances where the veteran is transferring their entitlement to their dependents. In either case, the

SCO at the academic institution will be there to help with this process. Please contact Elon’s SCO, Nicole

Jones, at 336-278-6676 or njones@elon.edu for help on starting Veteran Educational Benefits or if you

have questions regarding your existing benefits.

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If it weren’t for our new Registrar, Dr. Parks, I wouldn’t be here today – here at Elon,

at least. About a month ago, I started working in the Registrar’s Office as the

Program Assistant. Had you asked me three months ago if I had any plans on

working at Elon, my initial response might have been, “Where?”

Born and raised in Atlanta, Georgia, my scope was usually restricted to state

borders, especially in setting employment goals. However, while studying

Physics at the University of Georgia, I was befriended by a certain Associate

Registrar – Rodney Parks. My brother, Zach, also happened to work for

Rodney as his Program Assistant at the time (notice a pattern).

After UGA, I had been working tech support for law firms for a few years and

decided I was ready for something different. Zach alerted me to a new vacancy

in Dr. Parks’ office at Elon University. It didn’t take much research for me to realize what a great

opportunity this was. A few interviews and road trips later and I feel like I’m walking in my brother’s

footsteps.

With the help of some friends, my dog and I got packed up and quickly moved into Mebane. After

work, you might see me and my Husky/Lab exploring campus; feel free to stop and say hello! We both like

meeting new people.

Once I’ve learned how things work in this office, Dr. Parks has asked that I help bring more technology

into our procedures and processes. Before you know it, you’ll be able to make appointments with us online

or meet with the Registrar in a virtual meeting!

Allow Myself to Introduce… Myself.

Casey Hayes, Program Assistant

This semester’s Employee Spotlight features Casey Hayes, the new Program

Assistant for the Office of the Registrar. Casey came to us at the beginning of April

from Stone Mountain, Georgia. Casey attended the University of Georgia as an

undergraduate majoring in Physics. I sat down with Casey to ask a few questions and

to try to shed some light on our new mystery man.

AE: Welcome to Elon, Casey! Are you enjoying your time here so far?

CH: Yes, I really am enjoying my time here! Everyone has been extremely inviting and welcoming,

particularly in helping me get settled in.

AE: It was not too long ago that you were a student at the University of Georgia. What is it like to be

a staff member instead of a student on a college campus?

CH: It’s interesting to see how things work from this prospective, especially with the Registrar’s Office.

As a student, I had no idea what the Registrar’s Office did (even though my brother worked at UGA’s at

Employee Spotlight: Casey Hayes

Ashley Edwards, Student Assistant

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the time). I miss the level of responsibility I had at the time. It was much more carefree as a student. Being

an adult and having to pay bills and deal with health insurance definitely makes me miss the more carefree

days.

AE: I hear that you brought a furry friend with you. Would you like to tell us a little bit about her?

CH: Isis a three year old Husky and Chocolate Labrador mix. I’ve had her for one and a half years after I

rescued her from the pound in Georgia. I learned quite quickly that she has more energy than I know what

to do with. I also found that she does not like being left alone, but she’s gotten much better. I’ve always

loved dogs. I used to raise guide dogs with a program called the Guide Dog Foundation, which allowed me

to have a puppy while in college. I was able to take the puppy everywhere with me – even to class – and

the foundation covered most of the expenses. I adopted Isis because I got tired of having to send the pups

away after a year of training and I decided I wanted to get a dog that I could actually keep.

AE: When you’re not here at work, what are we most likely to find you doing?

CH: I’ve been joining my new community at the apartment complex where I live. There are a lot of great

people there who have been very welcoming and I have been enjoying hanging out with them. I go to the

dog park with Isis a lot too. There are many people my age in the complex, so it has been easy to get

involved. I look forward to being able to do some hiking and backpacking soon. Isis even has her own

backpack, it’s great.

AE: If you received $5,000 to go on a vacation of your choice, where would you go?

CH: I would go to the Maldives. It serves as my happy place – the place I allow my mind to

whenever I get too stressed. I have a beach there that I have picked out where I wouldn’t mind

staying. It’s a simple beach with the clearest blue water where Isis and I can run around and

enjoy life.

AE: What is your favorite childhood memory?

CH: Just in general, I would have to say the memory of coming home from church every

Sunday to play Legend of Zelda on the NES. I still have the originals in the gold cartridge and

everything.

AE: What’s something about you most people don’t know?

CH: When I was a kid, I was absolutely petrified of ET. I can handle him now, but he still musters that

same carnal fear from my childhood. Also, the fact that I am actually 26 and a staff member and not a

student worker surprises people every time.

AE: What are you looking forward to achieving in the next year?

CH: I look forward to buying my first house. I might be able to do that by next year if all goes well.

AE: Is there an interesting fact about you that you would like to tell the community?

CH: I love karaoke. I like entertaining people in general, but I absolutely love making a fool of myself with

a microphone. Feel free to challenge me to a song!

As you can see, we have added quite a character to our office!

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Greetings from Elon’s newest Assistant Registrar!

Office changes much? Wow, not only did we gain a new

Registrar in January, but earlier that same week, we also “lost” two

very valued colleagues from our office. To say that things have

changed a “bit” around here would definitely be an understatement.

The January departure of Suzanne Sioussat, our beautiful

southern-bell-of-a records-coordinator, who provided all transcripts

and verifications for our students and alumni, coupled with the

initiation of .pdf and online transcript capabilities on the horizon, prompted Dr. Parks to seize the

opportunity to restructure his newly acquired team. Soon after evaluating our current office structure, his

visualization was to replace Suzanne’s newly vacant position with an Assistant Registrar/Technology to

help implement and support the application of all the new technologies that are soon to be emerging out of

the Registrar’s Office. After eleven years as the Program Assistant in the office, I was the first one

jumping up and down in front of his door… and desk… and car in the parking lot in the morning…and

popping out from behind oak trees…sounding like a 6 year old in a PE kickball line-up saying, “PICK

ME!!! PICK ME!!!! OOOH! OOH! HEYYYY ROD! PICCCCK MEEEEEEE!!!” And here I am!

Ok…so that was a fairly entertaining exaggeration as to how it all really happened, but I’m

hoping it did make a good hook for my article at least.

Spending so many years at Elon, I knew I wanted to stay here, but I also have the personality type that

thrives under challenge and best with new endeavors. I had become extremely comfortable after eleven

years in the same position, but I also didn’t want to venture outside the walls of Elon. I have deep rooted

ties here; I graduated from Elon in 1995, my dad had worked here most of my life which put me on

campus often as a youngster for football games and cultural events and I have a daughter hoping to attend

Elon in her mom’s footsteps in a few years. The new opening in the office, due to Suzanne’s departure to

Chicago with her fiancé, provided me the opportunity to combine both, staying in Elon’s Registrar’s

Office and a motivating new position!

I love the encounters, relationships and opportunities that this new position has already been providing.

In just a few short months, I have been working closely with other departments across campus on exciting

new things, some of which you will be seeing soon! Thanks to collaboration with Nicole Jones and JP

Lavoie, faculty members and Chairs should be on the lookout for instructions regarding online grade

change forms being piloted in the next several weeks. We are also in the final testing stages before rolling-

out drop and add forms online.

I have also been involved in the .pdf transcript process from the vendor presentation phase all the way

through to the near-launch with our Associate Registrar, Karen Pore and Elon’s Application Technologies

department. The Registrar’s technology team has also launched and maintains our interoffice SharePoint

for document sharing, collaborative writing, office management processes, research projects and our very

own “Regipedia” for cross training. I was also encouraged and able to attend the Ellucian Live conference

WHOLE LOT OF SHAKIN’ GOING ON...

Melissa Holmes, Assistant Registrar

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After many years of the same office design, furniture, and décor, the Registrar’s

Office is scheduled to be completely remodeled this summer. The new office will

have a more customer friendly environment, a more professional look, have

improved accessibility and will use space much more efficiently. New technologies,

such as online registration and the upcoming .pdf transcripts, have enabled the

removal of the large counter in Alamance 104 allowing that space to be used more

efficiently in the new, more inviting, student service area.

The movers are scheduled to arrive June 3rd and will relocate us to our

temporary home on the first floor of the Kenan Honors Pavilion in the Academic

Village. We will continue to be available all Summer at the same phone and

email addresses. Stop by and visit us during this time if you have any business

needs, and please direct any students that may need us to our temporary location in

the Academic Village. Tentatively, we are slated to move back into Alamance on or

around July 11th.

After we get settled, we will send an announcement for our “Grand Reopening”. We are all

looking forward to the new things that are going to be available to our students, faculty and

staff.

New Digs!

Nicole Jones, Assistant Registrar

Updates for Graduation and the Academic Catalog

Susan Patton, Senior Associate Registrar

As of today’s date (5/15/2013) there are 1182 undergraduates on the graduation list. For this

office to be successful in clearing students for graduation, we must wait for the final grades

which are due for seniors on Wednesday, May 22, at 9:00. Last minute notes of substitution,

completion of foreign language placement, completion of the experiential learning

requirement and completion of the comprehensive evaluation letters must also be received and

processed before students may be cleared to graduate. By late Wednesday night, this office will have the

in Philadelphia this spring with Karen Pore. I was able to acquire information and ideas to bring back to the

team to use both in SharePoint and Colleague.

I can honestly say I now have the best of both worlds; the luxury of remaining with coworkers I have

been blessed to be surrounded by for eleven years and a challenging career advancement working with

people across campus that makes me enthused about coming to work each day.

Of course, my departure as Program Assistant left the opening for the newest-kid-on-the-registrar’s-

block…Mr. Casey Hayes, who you can read all about in this newsletter, and by the way, if you are looking

for him around campus, the picture on his “introduction” is a little misleading.

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Thanks for checking out our first biannual newsletter! Keep an eye out for the next issue that will include

The future launch of Schedule 25 — how it will improve room scheduling,

Direction of ad hoc reporting in our office,

Update on Registrar’s initiatives to leverage technology to improve customer service for our students,

And an in-depth employee exposé!

In the Next Issue

official graduation list ready and waiting. The faculty will meet one last time for the 2012-13 AY on

Saturday morning, May 25, in Alumni Gym, to affirm that these students have successfully met all

quantitative and qualitative requirements in order to receive their degrees.

The 2013-14 academic catalog has gone out for third round edits. Once the edits are returned to this

office, the copy will go to publications for formatting and reproofing. It will then be printed and

distributed.

Rodney Parks and I attended the 2013 American Association of Collegiate Registrars

and Admissions Officers (AACRAO) conference in San Francisco on May 13th – 17th.

Our team is currently researching products for better ways of compiling the academic

catalog, more user friendly classroom scheduling, and products which will help us serve

our community more efficiently. Being able to talk to others in the profession, networking

with these professionals, asking questions and listening to the steps they took in

implementing new services was invaluable. The sessions we attended presented many

ideas to bring back to the office to discuss during the summer retreat. Be on the lookout for some of the

services to be part of our office in the near future.

While AACRAO was great, the ride home was not. If you want a survivalist’s guide for what to do

when you fly into Chicago and can’t get to North Carolina for three days due to storms and floods and

about 1,000 people plus being in the same boat, contact Rod. He’s an expert in any type of situation

involving air travel.