Rice University Office of the Registrar 2022-2023 Annual Report

A word from the University registrar

Dear Rice University Friends and Colleagues,

Academic Year 2022-2023 was an exciting year for our campus and our community. In one way it was a year of return to normalcy, post-pandemic. It was also a year of great change, with new senior university leadership, and a large number of new faces on campus. Throughout all of this, the role, mission, and goals of our office have remained the same, and we have worked diligently and intentionally to be the Office of the Registrar that our university has needed us to be.

This annual report highlights some of the major activities of the Office of the Registrar over the past academic year. Our goal has been to support the educational mission of the university by working with the Rice community to maintain the accuracy and integrity of its educational records, provide

quality service, and support innovative systems that enhance academic support. As you review the following pages, it is my hope that you will see our accomplishments in light of that goal. All members of our office team have a unique and important role, and each has positively contributed towards our success. In the pages that follow, we’ll first identify each team member along with a comment from them on something memorable from the past academic year.

It is our pleasure to present this annual report. Join us in the pages that follow, and with any comments or questions, please contact me directly at dtenney@rice.edu.

We look forward to the new academic year in front of us, and the exciting things to come.

David A. Tenney University Registrar

Meet the 2022-2023 OtR Staff and What they’ve enjOyed

22 Years

I am most proud of working to update the Veteran’s Education webpage to make it more user friendly and easy to navigate. I’ve thought about updating the website and how to make it more user friendly for over two years and to finally to see it come fruition was rewarding.

17 Years

I was excited to attend the WAVES (Western Association of Veterans Education Specialist) conference. I realized how important veteran’s benefits are to our current veteran students. I’m proud that our office goes above and beyond for our students.

10 Years

I’m proud of being part of the process to get the graduate application for degree off paper and to an online process.

17 Years

I am most proud of Working with OIT to get the Banner 9 Self-Service module in PROD. It is still in the Beta stage requesting student feedback, but it is there!

5/6 Years*

I really enjoyed my time in the Registrar’s Office because there was always something new to learn. Over the past year, I was able to contribute to the development of the Rice military website by designing the layout and selecting content. It was an amazing project to be a part of.

16 Years

I am happy that I was able to be included and participate with this year’s O-Week PAA Training. Doing things like this outside our office allows me to take customer service to a new level.

3 Years

We developed new transfer credit webpages that are a great resource for everyone seeking information about the transfer credit policies and processes at Rice (students, parents, faculty, and staff)! I also continue to be excited about everything I am learning in my new role.

2/13 Years*

I was most excited to work on Visiting Student Orientation because it is a useful and necessary resource for this population of students.

AliciA BrAdley AssistAnt RegistRAR

cynthiA chAvez stAff AssistAnt

SArA dickenS student RecoRds AnAlyst

AnA cArrASco tRAnscRipt And VeRificAtion AnAlyst

rAchel clAy AssociAte RegistRAR

ellen everett pRoject MAnAgeR

Angel ForwArd pRogRAM MAnAgeR

Armi cAhoy executiVe AssistAnt

16 Years

I determined that unused space existed in several key classrooms in Rayzor Hall and the Humanities Building. I was able to fill that space with new furniture, increasing the capacities of these rooms by 25%, at a crucial time which class sizes are increasing sharply.

15 Years

I was excited that I was able to work on reviewing and approving new courses and course changes in CIM. It is always exciting for me to learn something new.

9 Years

I’ve enjoyed seeing the development of the office over the past year, and our striving for continual improvement. Many areas of what Rice OTR does are used as models for other schools, and it’s been an honor to be a part of that process and the team.

19/27 Years*

This year, as we’ve come out of the pandemic, our office has not simply returned, but we’ve improved and become better versions of ourselves. We provide important, foundational services to our community. I am immensely proud of our team and grateful for each team member.

24 Years

I am proud assisting staff with scanning and indexing variety of documents into OnBase to get to a current status and staying on top of my area as well with scanning and indexing.

4 Years

I’ve enjoyed transitioning in the role of Associate Registrar and learning the ins/outs of registration and evaluating process to see how it can be improved for the Rice community.

17/19 Years*

I was excited about getting to learn more about the “behind the scenes” aspects of Degree Works. Having a more in-depth understanding of the code helps to provide answers to students who have questions regarding how their degree audits are displayed.

2 Months

I am excited to be in a role that allows me to make a positive impact on both the office and Rice University, while also providing the opportunity to collaborate with other like-minded professionals.

chriS higginS clAssRooM And scheduling MAnAgeR

dArlene Judd RegistRAtion AssistAnt

John mArtinez cAtAlog & scheduling AssistAnt

JuStin Schilke deputy RegistRAR

dAvid tenney RegistRAR

mAritzA SAlinAS AssociAte RegistRAR

ShAr-lee ShAnderA student RecoRds AnAlyst

JeAn tArrAtS AssociAte RegistRAR

*Staff member has worked in other offices at Rice. Number of Years in OTR / Number of Years at Rice.

aReaS Of ReSPOnSiBility, influence, and activity (2022-23)

...Rice BuSineSS PROceSSeS

A-Level Credit Processing and Posting

Academic Calendar

Academic Plan Changes - Graduate Students

Academic Standing, Probation & Suspension

AP Test Credit Processing and Posting

Athletic Eligibility

B-On-Time Loan Forgiveness

Classroom Renovations

Classroom Scheduling

Commencement

CourseLeaf CAT, CIM, CLSS

Course Catalog Updates

Course Descriptions and/or Information

Course Evaluations

Course Rosters

Course Schedule Build

Curriculum Review

Data Requests (Ad Hoc)

Declarations (Major, Minor, & Certificates)

Dean Verifications

Degree Certification/Degree Audits

Degree Verifications

Degree Works

Degree Conferral & Transcript Updates

Email Notices & Communication

Enrollment Verifications

Facsimile Diplomas

Fee Waivers

FERPA Compliance and Guidance

Final Exam Scheduling

General Announcements

Grade Processing

Grade Rosters

Graduation Application - Graduate

Graduation Application - Undergraduate IB Credit Processing and Posting

Instructor Evaluations

Inter-Institutional Agreements and Registration

International Certifications

Latin Honors Calculation

National Student Clearinghouse Submissions

NCAA Compliance

New Student Orientation/Registration

OnBase Document Management

OTR Fees

President’s Honor Roll

Registration/Enrollment Troubleshooting

Replacement Diploma Processing

Reports to the President

Residential College Updates

Student Records Access

Student Registration Actions

Student Status Changes

Study Abroad (Registration / Transfer Credit)

Subpoenas

Summer Sessions

Transcript Processing

Transfer Credit Processing/Posting

VA Processing

Visiting Post-Baccalaureate

Visiting Students

Waitlist Management

...in the Rice cOMMunity

Classroom Quality Management Team

College Associates

College Roadtrips

Committee on Examinations and Standing

Committee on Teaching

Committee on Undergraduate Curriculum

Crisis Management Team

Data Governance Council

Data Stewards

Data Warehouse Initiative

Faculty Senate

Finding Balance: Managing Stress 2022

Foundations of Supervision

FERPA Brown Bag

Graduate Council

Inclusivity in Student Records Working Group

Lessons from Leaders

Performance Management SMART Goal Training

Phi Beta Kappa

Student Insurance Committee

Student Services Collaboration

Tableau Users Group

Training Presentations (Degree Works, CLSS, CIM, Visiting Student Researchers)

...at

the State/RegiOnal level

National Student Clearinghouse Academy

South East Texas Association of Collegiate Registrars and Admissions Officers (SETACRAO)

Southern Association of Collegiate Registrars and Admissions Officers (SACRAO)

Texas Association of Collegiate Registrars and Admissions Officers (TACRAO)

Texas Association of Collegiate Registrars and Admissions Officers (TACRAO) Executive Committee

Texas Association of Collegiate Veteran Program Officials (TACVPO)

Western Association of Veterans Education Specialist (WAVES)

...at

the natiOnal level

Ad Astra Aspire

American Association of Collegiate Registrars and Admissions Officers (AACRAO)

American Association of Collegiate Registrars and Admissions Officers (AACRAO) Mentorship

Working Group

Association of American Universities (AAU) Registrars

CourseLeaf Executive Forum

Degree Works Forum

Ellucian Live

Slate Labs

Student RecORdS and cuRRiculuM

...maintaining the accuracy and integrity of rice’s education records.

trAnSFer credit

Many students complete coursework at other institutions and transfer that coursework into Rice. The OTR reviews transfer credit requests and processes it according to Rice’s transfer credit policies. Over the past academic year, the OTR awarded transfer credit to 753 students for non-test credit (AP, IB, A-Level) courses for a total of 9,489 credit hours. In addition, the OTR reviewed transfer applicant files sent to it by the Office of Admission for the offering of admission. These files are typically more time consuming than traditional transfer credit requests because all coursework the applicant has taken is reviewed for transferability to and equivalency in the Rice curriculum.

New this Year: To assist in the awarding of transfer credit and assessment of the transfer applicants, the OTR purchased Transfer Evaluation System (TES). TES allows institutions to look up courses at other institutions quickly to more easily assess transferability.

review oF curriculum during ApprovAl proceSS

The OTR provides resources to departments and programs seeking to expand their curricular offerings. In particular, review and feedback is provided on curriculum proposals as they are submitted through the Curriculum on Undergraduate Education (CUC) and Graduate Council before going to Faculty Senate. The OTR also generates General Announcements (GA) mockup pages to be included in all proposals, if appropriate, for consistency and ease of review. There were 10 such proposals over the past year.

veterAn’S BeneFitS

In March of 2023, the United States Department of Veteran Affairs (VA) released a new VA education platform to assist with easily certifying and managing enrollment and program/degree updates to VA for VA education beneficiaries. The new web-based platform makes for ease of navigation and allows us to report multiple terms more easily for students taking courses within multiple part of terms.

In order to prepare for the transition from the old enrollment reporting system to the new and improved reporting system, VA offered a vast number of online training sessions in addition to monthly office hour sessions for all educational personnel involved in reporting enrollment to VA. Two OTR staff members have trained on the system and attended the Western Association of Veteran Education Specialists to support Rice’s around 135 individuals who use veteran’s benefits each year.

Rice also just updated the Yellow Ribbon (YR) agreement at the graduate level to allow an unlimited number of eligible students to participate in the YR program in addition to increasing the maximum contribution amount to cover the remaining tuition cost not covered by the Post 9/11 GI Bill.

tArgeted miSSing grAdeS

At the end of the semester, the OTR routinely has classes with missing grades. The delay in receiving final grades slows down end-of-term processing, including the certification of students for graduation. To aid in that area, the OTR began an automated effort a few semesters ago to send daily updates of missing grades to department chair and coordinators. This year, that effort was expanded to include bulk personalized emails to faculty who were missing grades. These bulk emails significantly reduced the time to collect all grades and also the time OTR staff spent attempted to track down missing grades to close of the semester.

2,771 degreeS AwArded

33,049

Degree Audits Performed 8/1/22 - 7/31/23

7,158

Petitions Processed

9,438

Exceptions/Course Substitutions Applied

3 Days Median Length of Time to Process Petitions

1,838 grAde chAngeS

35,237 trAnSFer credit hourS ArticulAted

9,489

Credit Hours Articulated From Other Institutions for 753 Students

25,748

Credit Hours Articulated for AP, A-Level and IB Tests for 1,280 Students

trAnScript FulFillmentS over time

8,450

Manual Course

Registrations by OTR Staff in 2019-2020

2,207 Manual Course

Registrations by OTR Staff in 2022-2023

...enabling rice to safely make data-driven decisions.

Security reviewS

With two enterprise resource planning (ERP) systems at Rice, the OTR wanted to ensure continuity in restricting access to Banner records for individuals who were terminated or changed positions in iO. To facilitate this, OTR created a report that utlizes the data feed that populates data from iO to search for changes in status, position, or department in iO, and whether the individual had student record access in Banner. Any individual with a change is reviewed by a senior staff member in OTR, and access is either maintained, changed, or revoked based on the employment change. This has allowed OTR to ensure only those with a legitimate educational interest in access to electronic student records have that access.

FAmily educAtionAl rightS And privAcy Act (FerpA) trAining

The OTR trained 926 individuals through a Rice specific online FERPA training that was built by a staff member and housed in Canvas. Such training is required once every two years for any individuals who have access to electronic student records maintained by the OTR. An OTR representative also presents at the annual FERPA Brown Bag training in September and the New Faculty Orientation in August.

enhAnced Security For nSc reporting

Over the Summer of 2023, a data breach occurred at the National Student Clearinghouse (NSC). The NSC is the central repository that many institutions in the United States use for enrollment reporting and student tracking. To ensure better security with Rice’s 34 submissions to the NSC, the OTR implemented Pretty Good Privacy (PGP) encryption to protect our data.

FinAnciAl Aid pArtnering

As the number of data requests has grown, so has the number of cross-departmental types of requests for data for departments to better understand the student population. The Office of Financial Aid and the OTR consolidated a data request form to collect information regarding these joint requests to speed delivery and to more effectively capture the needs of the requestor. Typically, a request will come in, and OTR will provide the student record data, including demographic information, and Financial Aid will add the financial data. OTR will then de-idenitify the data, if possible, before the data is then released to the processor.

754

46,593

cuStOMeR SeRvice

...providing for the needs of the community in a professional manner.

militAry weBSite

In an effort to better support veterans and those who utilize veteran’s benefits, OTR launched military. rice.edu. This site provides information designed to help explain how education benefits can be used at Rice and the steps to take to utilize them, along with answering many frequently asked questions regarding education benefits.

requeSt trAcker

The OTR utilizes a tool called Request Tracker for tracking and responding to requests for assistance. Request Tracker is a ticketing system that opens a ticket for every inquiry to registrar@rice.edu, and that ticket is then routed to a queue and/or individual to assist. While submitting a request through registrar@rice.edu is not the only way for assistance, it is often one of the more efficient and trackable methods.

The number of inquiries through Request Tracker has increased dramatically over the years. The OTR received 18,027 tickets from August 2017 to July 2018. That has grown to the 31,471 requests the OTR received from August 2022 to July 2023, which was an increase of almost 2,000 from the year prior. These increases have come even as the OTR has moved some processes that relied on the creation of tickets to more automated methods not requiring tickets to be generated.

AcAdemic depArtment plAnning cAlendArS

The OTR reviewed and updated the Academic Department Planning Calendars available on the OTR website. These calendars are provided for academic department planning purposes and provide a timeline of ongoing projects in the Office of the Registrar, as well as, a timeline of when the Office of the Registrar will require departmental assistance.

tABleAu dAShBoArdS

Due to a number of “data heavy” displays and charts, the OTR has embedded a number of Tableau vizualizations on the OTR website. These views overwent viewability updates over the past year to ensure they were more readable to the community, among other user interface changes.

31,471

4

15.5

243,000

2

cOuRSe catalOg & Scheduling

...supporting the pedagodical needs of rice instructors.

Scheduling reStrictionS BASed on room AvAilABility

Over the past academic year, OTR worked on trying to limit the requests for course sections during specific time slots of the day when classroom supply was exhausted. This was particularly the case for Monday through Thursday afternoons.To accomplish this, OTR performed several mock room assignment tests early on during the scheduling process and then continuously monitored course schedule requests for room availability. When a time block reached capacity, that time was blocked from further scheduling until sections were canceled and space opened. Such actions allowed for Rice to have enough classroom space to meet classroom needs during peak times in Fall 2022, Spring 2023, and Fall 2023.

courSe Schedule weBpAgeS

As a response to the rapidly changing situations during the COVID-19 pandemic, OTR set up semester-specific course scheduling pages that provided specific information for that semester’s course scheduling. After receiving positive feedback on those pages, OTR made the creation of those webpages a part of the normal business process for the unit.

• https://registrar.rice.edu/fall-semester-2022-course-scheduling-information

• https://registrar.rice.edu/spring-semester-2023-course-scheduling-information

• https://registrar.rice.edu/facstaff/summer_sessions_info

These pages contain all communication regarding scheduling, important dates, any changes to the academic calendar, and any other pertinent information. It is updated throughout the scheduling period for that semester to keep the community informed.

courSe Schedule reportS

In order for departments to make data-driven decisions, the OTR developed a Course Demand and Student Scheduling History Dashboard is intended to help you understand the course demand during the Registration Request Period and when students are registered for courses (and what they are taking). This report/dashboard is accessible by departments through the scheduling period.

claSSROOMS

...maintaining and effectively utilizing rice’s learning environments.

clASSroom proJectS

The Classroom Quality Management Team (CQMT) has two OTR staff members, and the CQMT is charged with the responsibility of identifying, selecting, and managing classroom maintenance and improvement activities, and for wisely allocating the university-supplied funds for these rooms.

Each year, the CQMT undertakes a number of projects.

Summer 2022

• Brockman 101: Replaced projectors

• Space Science 106: Replaced desks

• Rayzor 119: Added blackout shades

• Various Rooms: Replaced networking cards in switchers in 14 rooms

• Various Rooms: Replaced core switches in 17 rooms to add AirMedia functionality

• Various Rooms: Replaced thunderbolt/ mini-Display port laptop connections with USB-C laptop connections

Spring 2023

• Herzstein Amphitheater: Replaced two projection screens

• Rayzor 119: Replaced two projection screens

StAndArdized clASSroom SignS

Winter 2022

• Baker Hall 102 and 116: Replaced old furniture with new tablet-arm chairs; replaced carpet

• Brockman 101 and 103: Replaced old furniture with new tables and chairs

• Humanities 120: Replaced old furniture with new table and chairs

• Rayzor 123: Replaced missing tables

• Rayzor 202, 302, and 310: Replaced old furniture with new tables and chairs

• Rayzor 204: Added whiteboard

• Various rooms: Replaced 32 screens in 27 classrooms

The OTR, Classroom Quality Management Team (CQMT), and Facilities, Engineering, and Planning (FE&P) have worked together to standardize the signs for OTR scheduled classrooms. By the Spring 2023, nearly all OTR scheduled classrooms had such signs except for a few classrooms/buildings that were/are expected to go under renovation soon.

claSSROOMS in ay 2022-23 - By the nuMBeRS

office of the registrAr

cOntact infORMatiOn

contAct

Phone: 713.348.4999

Fax: 713.348.5921

Email: registrar@rice.edu

Website: registrar.rice.edu

phySicAl locAtion

The Office of the Registrar is located in Allen Center Room 116. Allen Center is Building #33 on the Rice Map

mAiling AddreSS

Rice University

Office of the Registrar - MS 57

P.O. Box 1892

Houston, TX 77251-1892

oFFice hourS

The Office of the Registrar (OTR) business hours are 8:30 a.m. to 5:00 p.m., Monday through Friday. In-person and front desk lobby hours 8:30 a.m. to 4:00 p.m., Monday through Friday.

The above days and times may change, and the most up-to-date information can be found here.

Our staff are also available from 8:30 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. via registrar@rice.edu to assist and answer questions as needed.

StAFF directory And tASk liSting

If you need to contact a specific person, a Staff Directory is available here. Individual staff responsibilities are outlined on the Staff Task Listing page.