Registrars create connections across the nation

At the last American Association of University’s Registrars meeting there were a series of discussions focused around professional development, succession planning, and providing growth opportunities to create a leadership pipeline amongst Deputy/Senior/Associate Registrar positions. This professional development opportunity would assist in understanding turnover in the role and provide support amongst this community of people. AACRAO (American Association of Collegiate Registrars and Admissions Offices) has commented that a significant percentage will retire from their role as Registrar. Even within the last two years the Association of American Universities (AAU) has seen a significant number of new Registrars at member institutions (approx. 16 of 65 member institutions). While the BigTen Academic Alliance has its own meetings to bring together team members from Registrar’s Offices, many universities don’t have this built in network and relationship development opportunity. Bringing together this group of Deputy/Senior/Associate Registrar positions at AAU institutions provides a space to foster a new, in-depth professional development opportunity based on this emerging concern. The first meeting of this group was held following the AACRAO Annual Meeting. With 67 people in attendance from 40 AAU institutions, the group enjoyed a panel discussion with the founding AAU Registrars (facilitated by Scott Owczarek), small group discussions highlighting career progression, and ways in which this new AAU Deputy/Senior/Associate Registrar group can help prepare members to determine if/when they’re ready to become Registrars and/or provide professional development opportunities to prepare them for taking that step. The group also engaged in a roundtable discussion of various topics submitted by the attendees, which immediately fostered participants’ ability to learn from one another, exploring professional approaches to the work that stretch beyond institutional types. The coordination of this initial in-person meeting of Deputy/Senior/Associate Registrars was a multi-institutional effort, where Beth Warner was joined by 5 colleagues to launch this first meeting with rave reviews. The next step is to create an expanded, virtual network to include more associate registrars and to sift and winnow through the literal hundreds of topics submitted as ideas for webinars and future in-person meetings. The hope is that the group will meet at least four times a year, three virtually and one in-person, likely with rotating participation. The group of Deputy/Senior/Associate Registrar is really excited to expand upon the enthusiasm and excitement expressed by the inaugural participants.