For the Record, An AACRAO Podcast

Sometimes addressing a structural issue takes some out-of-the-box thinking. Northeastern University, under the guidance of Jessica Liebowitz, Faculty Director of  the Student-Administrator Partnerships Initiative, brought together technically-accomplished students to serve as Fellows to assist administrators in addressing a serious or intractable institutional problem. In this episode we hear abou...

“University Registrar” isn’t usually included in the list of dream jobs for children. So how did we all wind up in these higher education leadership roles, and what have we learned along the way? In this episode, Andrew Marx, University Registrar at Clark University talks about his unconventional, yet not altogether uncommon path to the registrar’s office. Andy shares his reflections on becoming a...

Season 9 kicks off with a discussion about 90 credit degrees and how the University of Maine System is moving forward with three Applied Baccalaureate degrees as a way of bringing learners with some college but no degree back to the university system. Chancellor Dan Malloy and Vice Chancellor Jeff St. John join to talk about their process for developing the Applied Baccalaureates, the surprisingly...

Welcome back to For the Record! After an unintentional hiatus (writing a dissertation), we’re back with one of my favorite people: Keisha Campbell. We talk about her fascinating career arc, her involvement with the AACRAO REG 201 preconference workshop, what life is like at an HBCU right now, and how she is staying grounded in the world today. It’s a wide-ranging and in parts funny, in parts serio...

This episode was inspired by Ryan Holiday’s book, Ego is the Enemy , and its applications of Stoicism to modern ideas of leadership and management. With everything that’s going on in the United States as a backdrop, this episode reiterates the importance of focusing on service over receiving recognition, on cultivating humility, and leading with wisdom. These practices can help you avoid developin...

In this conversation with Dr. Cié Gee from the University of Texas at San Antonio we explore the idea of leadership through the roles of line leader and door holder–familiar responsibilities from elementary school. Dr. Gee argues that the door holder is a less glamorous but potentially more important role than the line leader, and we discuss ways door holding opportunities present themselves in th...

In the very first official episode of this podcast, we explored the question of what even is a registrar. Now, with six more years of experience that included a global pandemic, it was time to once again take stock of our understanding of the role of the registrar. What do we do? And how do we explain what we do to people who work at our institutions or to people  all the way outside of higher edu...

Two very important functions we engage in as registrars are hiring and onboarding. Perhaps surprisingly, we don’t spend a lot of time talking about either of those very important practices. In this episode we discuss ways to improve the interviewing and hiring process for everyone involved, along with practical ways to bring your new hire into your office and get them acculturated quickly.    Key...

Following up on the previous episode about AI’s potential applications to higher education, this episode focuses on the work that the Computational Approaches to Human Learning research lab at UC Berkeley is doing under the direction of Dr. Zach Pardos. We talk about ways AI can assist with transfer or credit mobility, ways AI might be able to streamline the creation of degree pathways for student...

For more than 50 years, the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching has been categorizing institutions in a functional but basic way–by the highest degree the institution awards and the amount of research generated by the institution. Even as American higher education changed significantly from the early 1970s, the classifications remained the same. Until recently! In this episode we t...

The AACRAO Annual Meeting is a phenomenal event for networking, learning, and catching up with friends and colleagues. This year’s meeting, held in Seattle, Washington, brought together more than 1,700 higher education professionals for breakout sessions, plenaries, timely topics, and great fun.  Key Takeaways: The AACRAO Annual Meeting continues to provide outstanding opportunities for personal a...

Artificial Intelligence (AI) is a hot topic everywhere these days. What is it, what are its promises, and what are its current limitations in terms of applicability to the work we do in a registrar’s office. You’ll hear from the Chief AI Officer at George Mason University about the promises and challenges of AI, and from a privacy and information law attorney about some of the considerations we sh...

Pursuing an education is a political act. Working in a registrar’s office means providing service. In the currently divisive political climate, with an ever diversifying student (and faculty and staff) population, how can we provide the kind of servant leadership our communities need? Key Takeaways: Being a servant leader is about treating people with respect, putting others’ needs ahead of your o...

One of the enduring challenges institutions face is how to assess the learning that an individual acquires when they are not enrolled at an institution, and whether and what to award as credit toward a degree in recognition for that learning. In this episode we revisit the concept of Prior Learning Assessment (PLA), and its outcome, Credit for Prior Learning (CPL), with two higher education profes...

Every registrar’s office has a series of functions they perform as part of their regular business. Sometimes these functions are well thought out and run smoothly every time. Other times there are things we do that are cobbled together and have steps that accrue over time and no one is really sure why we’re doing what we’re doing. If you’ve ever wanted to crack some of those processes open because...

Working with vendors is a fact of life for registrars and admissions officers. But a lot of us might feel reluctant to engage with vendors at a conference. If that’s you, this episode is a must listen! Vendors are there to support the organization (either AACRAO or your state and regional) as they provide important services to our industry, and they’re there to be seen, get their company name out,...

In a wide-ranging discussion about grades and grading, Dr. Joshua Eyler discusses how grades are harming our learners and what we can do to help minimize that harm. We talk about the history of grades and how the current interval letter grade system came to prominence, the stress that grades cause students and the way that stress is exacerbating the mental health crisis. And we discuss alternative...

The work of the registrar is cyclical and complex. Dependencies abound between and among systems and offices. How do you keep track of all of the tasks required to make everything run smoothly in your office and on your campus? Use a production calendar. In this episode we’ll talk about what a production calendar is, how to use one, its relationship to the academic calendar, along with tips and tr...

Have you ever wondered if the things you’re focused on at work are the right things? Do your teams understand how the work they do fits into the office’s larger goals, or the institution’s? Engaging in strategic planning can help with both of those questions, but it’s always seemed a little daunting. In this episode we talk to Dani Ambrose and Dr. Kelley Jenkins from the University of Mississippi...

Change is a constant occurrence in a registrar’s world, but it does seem that the amount and rate of change has increased. Responding to change and managing through it are skills that we all employ, but could all improve. In this episode, we talk to members of the registrar’s office from Middle Tennessee State University about recent changes their office has faced, how those changes unfolded, and...

Degree audits are somewhat of a technological marvel. In the first episode of season 7, we explore what a degree audit is, what it does, and ways that institutions can (and should) be using the data degree audits provide in order to make their students’ lives (and their own) easier. Along the way we talk about curriculum development, the Catalog and the role it plays as the foundation of the audit...

US higher education continues to experience challenges, and sometimes those challenges lead to institutions closing. In this episode we revisit the topic of institutional closure from the lens of the receiving institution. Guests Jackie DeMolee and Hannah Rounds talk about the University of Iowa’s role as the closed institutions’ records repository within the state of Iowa. We learn about the two...

This is an episode of love and gratitude from University Registrar and For the Record Co-Host Sarah Reed, with love to the listeners. Sarah Reed is stepping away from co-hosting  For the Record and is sharing her reflections about how she stumbled into podcasting, the journey of podcasting, her thoughts about and processing this change of stepping away from something she has deeply enjoyed, and ot...

Inspired by a session at the Convergence conference co-sponsored by AACRAO and UPCEA, this episode delves into questions of trust in the digital credentials higher education is moving quickly toward–and is in fact already awarding in droves. The Trusted Learner Network (TLN) is the focus of the conversation and ways that the TLN is designed to tackle core challenges of quality, accessibility and v...

This episode explores the life path and journey of a registrar- beyond the individual career changes- to learn more about what has inspired these changes, and upon a lived life thus far.  We take time today to reflect, pause, process, and learn.  Scott has spent 47 years working in higher education, including positions in development, admissions, financial aid, records, and registration, and insti...