2023-2024 ANNUAL REPORT
WELCOME
David Tenney University Registrar
A Word from the University Registrar
Academic Year 2023-2024 was an exciting year for our campus and our community. 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. As the Rice community has grown (and continues to grow), both with the student and instructor populations, we have worked diligently to adapt and adjust appropriately. Whether working on special projects or handling daily routine tasks, we strive for both exceptional service and continuous improvement in all we do.
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.
ABOUT US SECTION 01
The Office of the Registrar (OTR) supports 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.
Vision & Values
The OTR aims to be a leading registrar’s office, thoughtfully supporting the Rice community through a holistic approach that leverages skilled staff and advanced technology to enhance the lives of its members.
OUR VISION
UNDERSTAND CUSTOMERS
Gain a clear understanding of OTR’s customers to sufficiently serve their needs; continue to strengthen OTR’s position and relationships in the community by increasing collaborations.
BE WELL-TRAINED
Have a well-executed succession plan that meets the needs of the changing university landscape and the technological environment in which we operate.
MODERNIZE
Modernize technology in use by registrarrelated functions and improve effectiveness and efficiencies of registrar-related services.
RESPONSIBILITY
Responsibility is something fundamental to a mission-driven academic community. We take responsibility for making Rice better, and also for our own happiness and success. We take responsibility for our actions and words, and understand how they may impact our friends and colleagues. We especially take responsibility for our mistakes. That way we can learn from them and even translate failure into success.
INTEGRITY
COMMUNITY
EXCELLENCE
Integrity is one of the strongest threads in Rice’s cultural fabric. In the classroom, office, lab, field of play, in our residential colleges and in our community engagement, we are guided by our commitment to honesty and doing what’s right. This value is embodied in the notion of Rice’s honor and our Honor Code. We accept nothing less than complete academic and research integrity.
Excellence for Rice, means that we are never satisfied with a good result, because we can always find ways to do even better. “When I arrived at Rice for the first time ... I was struck by the beauty of the campus and the quality of the education, research and community service it produced. But I was surrounded by people — trustees, alumni, faculty members, students, staff — who believed that Rice could be better. I am proud to be part of a community that constantly strives to become better.” — David Leebron
Our success as a community depends first and foremost on our respect for each other, and how we reflect that respect in our everyday interactions. That is especially important as we learn from and build friendships with people from diverse backgrounds and cultures. The Rice community cares about each member. We hope that individual acts add up to the culture of caring that we espouse. Our shorthand way of expressing this to others in need of some assistance: HCIH — How can I help? As part of our values, we extend hospitality and help to every member of our community.
The Team
Abiola Office Administrator and Executive Assistant
Rachel Clay Associate Registrar
Chris HigginsClassroom and Scheduling Manager
Alicia BradleyAssistant Registrar for Reporting
Sara Dickens Student Records Analyst
Registration Assistant
Transcript and Verification Analyst
Ellen Everett Project Manager for OTR Operations
KrempaskyStudent Records Specialist
Forward Program Manager
Martinez Catalog and Scheduling Assistant
Hakeem
Ana Carrasco
Cynthia Chavez Staff Assistant
Angel
Jillian
John
Darlene Judd
Maritza Salinas Associate Registrar
Shar-Lee Shandera Student Records Analyst
Jean Tarrats Associate Registrar
Justin Schilke Deputy Registrar
Influence and Activity
The Office of the Registrar is heavily involved in the Rice community and helps ensure that academic and administrative processes run smoothly and are followed according to the General Announcements, Rice policies, state and federal law, and best practices.
Academic Calendar
Academic Plan Changes
Academic Standing, Probation & Suspension
A-Level Credit Processing and Posting
AP Test Credit Processing and Posting Application for Graduation
Athletic Eligibility
B-On-Time Loan Forgiveness
Budget Transformation Initiative Working Groups
Classroom Quality Management Team
Classroom Renovations
Classroom Scheduling
College Associates
College Roadtrips Commencement
Committee on Examinations and Standing Committee on Teaching
Committee on Undergraduate Curriculum
Course Catalog Updates
Course Descriptions and/or Information
Course Evaluations
Course Rosters
Course Schedule Build
CourseLeaf CAT, CIM, CLSS Curriculum Review
Data Governance Council
Data Requests (Ad Hoc)
Data Stewards
Data Warehouse Initiative
Dean Verifications
Declarations (Major, Minor, & Certificates)
Degree Certification/Degree Audits
Degree Conferral & Transcript Updates
Degree Verifications
Degree Works
E-mail Notices & Communication
Enrollment Verifications
Facsimile Diplomas
Faculty Senate
FERPA Brown Bag and General Compliance/Guidance
Final Exam Scheduling
General Announcements
Grade Processing
Grade Rosters
Graduate Council
IB Credit Processing and Posting
Inclusivity in Student Records Working Group
Instructor Evaluations
Inter-Institutional Agreements and Registration
International Certifications
Latin Honors Calculation
Late Fee (Registration/Graduation) Assessment/Waiver
National Student Clearinghouse Submissions
NCAA Compliance
New Student Orientation/Registration
OnBase Document Management
Phi Beta Kappa
President’s Honor Roll
Registration/Enrollment Troubleshooting
Replacement Diploma Processing
Reports to the President
Residential College Updates
Student Insurance Committee
Student Records Access
Student Registration Actions
Student Services Collaboration
Student Status Changes
Study Abroad (Registration / Transfer Credit)
Subpoenas
Summer Sessions
Tableau Users Group
Transcript Processing
Transfer Credit Processing/Posting
VA Audit
VA Processing
Various Training Presentations
Visiting Students
Waitlist Management
Staff also develop professionally and contribute to the profession
Ad Astra Aspire
Association of American Universities (AAU) Registrars LEAD
Association of American Universities (AAU) Registrars
American Association of Collegiate Registrars and Admissions
Officers (AACRAO)
CourseLeaf LUC
Ellucian Live
National Student Clearinghouse Academy
Performance Management SMART Goals
Registrar 101 (AACRAO)
Rice Business Management Incubator
Slate Summit
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)
MAJOR PROJECTS SECTION 02
The OTR aims to consistently improve upon existing business processes to enhance the student, faculty, and staff experience at Rice. While the OTR undertakes dozens of small projects each year to make incremental improvements, some of the larger projects are highlighted on the following pages. We are thankful for the assistance of the Office of Information Technology (OIT) division (specifically, the Student Information Systems and Learning Environments teams) and the division Facilities and Capital Planning in implementation of many of these projects.
Technology Projects
In a dynamically changing landscape, OTR business processes are tied to technology in fundamental ways. Each year, we attempt to make incremental changes to improve the student, faculty, and staff experience.
ESTHER FACE-LIFT
With the assistance of OIT, ESTHER, which is the selfservice access to Banner, the student information system, went through a number of changes to enhance the student experience. Significant portions now have a more modern feel, and students can now enter personal pronouns and gender identity information.
GRADUATE APPLICATION FOR DEGREE OVERRIDE AND ERROR MESSAGES
The OTR has relied on paper applications for degree for graduate students despite undergraduate students having been moved online over a decade ago. In Fall 2023, graduate students were able to apply for graduation online for the first time in ESTHER.
Online Enrollment and Degree Verification Requests
Students can now order enrollment and degree verification requests online in ESTHER and charge those requests to their student accounts. This has eliminated extra payment processing steps.
After feedback from students and instructors regarding registration error messages and electronic override descriptions, OTR audited the messages and descriptions displayed and modified them so that they could be more easily understood by the community and provide additional context for the error being given.
INC Grade Conversion
An Incomplete (INC) grade now systematically converts to a Failing (F) grade if the grade is not submitted by the deadline stipulated in the academic calendar. This was previously a manual process.
VALIDITY - DEGREE VERIFICATIONS ON THE BLOCKCHAIN
Rice was one of the first institutions in the nation to offer Certified Electronic Diplomas back in the mid-2010s, and OTR continues to push the boundaries of technology and recordkeeping still. Rice became the second university in the nation to offer degree verifications online via the use of blockchain technology. Graduates since Fall 2003 can now receive instant and cost-free access to comprehensive verification of degrees, majors, minors, and certificates earned while at Rice.
Recordkeeping Projects
Project Management
As processes and their complexity have increased, OTR shifted from using Google Calendar to implementing Monday.com as a project management tool. All of OTR’s production calendar for all processes now resides in a centralized and detailed location.
Auditing (Data Integrity)
With new business processes and data elements coming into Banner, OTR continues to add additional table-level trigger audits with the help of OIT to track changes to the system, as well as expand the number of daily data checks, well over 150 now.
Policy 837 - Record Retention, Access, Disposition
Policy 837 was issued in 1997 with only clerical changes since. OTR took initiative to draft a new policy, circulate it to stakeholders, and submit it for review for approval to bring Rice “up to date” in student record retention, access, and disposition.
Mononyms
When Validity was launched, OTR noticed that there was an inconsistency in how mononyms were handled. After researching peer schools and consulting with other stakeholders, students with mononyms (one-word names) have data standardization on their name.
Customer Service Projects
Website Revisions
In preparation for a major 2024-25 academic year project, OTR undertook a review of all of registrar.rice.edu to ensure that information was accurate and up-to-date.
OTR transitioned all major communication from the office to Hubspot instead of the Bulk Mail tool or personal e-mail clients.
Classroom Projects
The Office of the Registrar serves as a key stakeholder on the Classroom Quality Management Team (CQMT) , which is charged with the responsibility of identifying, selecting, and managing classroom maintenance and improvement activities.
Fall/Winter 2023
± Sewall 301: Replaced carpeting and seats
± Updated dual delivery systems from temporary setup established in 2020 to permanent systems:
» ABL 131
» ANH 117
» BKH 102 and 116
» DBH 180
» DCH 1042, 1046, 1064, 1070, and 1075
» HBH 227, 427, and B21
» HRG 100
» HRZ 210 and 212
» HUM 117 and 119
» KCK 101 and 102
» KRF 105, 110, and 125
» KWG 100
» MEB 128
» RYN 201
» RZR 106, 113, 119, 123, and 205
» SEW 133, 301, 303, 305, 307, and 309
» SST 106
Spring/Summer 2024
Completed the following upgrades:
1. Add a mount (vertical or horizontal, as appropriate) and a second monitor to the lectern
2. Replace lectern
3. Modify floor stand
4. Reroute cables in the floor
5. Remove wheels from cart and place in position
6. Replace the existing monitor with a smaller monitor
7. Complete cabling and programming changes
» ABL 131 (1,2)
» ANH 117 (1)
» BKH 102 and 116 (1)
» DCH 1042, 1046, and 1075 (1)
» HBH B21 (1)
» HRG 100 (3)
» HRZ AMP (4,5)
» HUM 119 (1)
» KCK 100 (5,6), 101 (1), and 102 (7)
» KRF 105 and 125 (1)
DUAL DELIVERY HISTORY
2020
Dual Delivery Scramble
COVID-19 hits. In an effort to offer in person classes, Rice invests $1.2M in “temporary” Dual Delivery in select classrooms.
2021
Remaining Classrooms
$700k invested in classrooms not supplied with Dual Delivery in 2020 receive “permanent” Dual Delivery.
2023-24
Making it Permanent
$450k invested to make the Dual Delivery systems set up in 2020 “permanent.”
» MEB 128 (1)
» RZR 106 (1), 113 (1), 119 (1), and 205 (7)
» SEW 301, 303, 305, 307, and 309 (1)
» SST 106 (1)
ANNUAL STATISTICS SECTION 03
Much of what OTR staff do is hard to quantify directly because many registrar operations are behind the scenes and facilitate the day-to-day operations of the university and other offices or departments ; however, some high-level statistics of more visible core OTR functions follow. Unless otherwise noted in the listed statistic, data are from the period August 1, 2023 to July 31, 2024.
Registration and Records
When most people think of a registrar’s office, most people think of registration; overseeing course registration is a central operation in the OTR.
Within the office, different teams assist in setting up the structure of terms, registration capabilities, and waitlists, as well as processing course registration overrides and other special requests. Once the course is concluded, OTR oversees grade collection, grade changes, GPA calculations, assignment of institutional honors and academic discipline, and other miscellaneous end-of-term processes.
12,822
70%
Students with at Least 1 Registration Override
7,958
Course Registration Overrides for the 2023-24 Academic Year
20.6% Overrides Processed Manually by OTR
Transcript requests fulfilled
6,416 PDF
1,542 PAPER MOST FULFILLED SAME DAY
Verifications Grade Changes Transfer Credit
30% 2.5% 7%
Increase in the number of enrollment and degree verifications processed in house from five years ago.
Increase in the total number of grade changes processed by OTR (1,883) when compared to the previous year.
Increase in the total amount of transfer credit hours articulated by OTR (38,011) from compared to the previous year.
Catalog and Schedule
The Course Catalog, the complete and entire list of courses offered as part of the official Rice curriculum at Rice University. From it, the Course Schedule is built that shows the courses that are offered each term.
OTR facilitates the Course Catalog edit process and the build of the Course Schedule using a suite of tools, most notably CourseLeaf CIM and CLSS.
Total Course Catalog Edits
There were 1,334 course proposals submitted. Of those, 296 were new courses, 881 were course changes, and 157 were course inactivations. Each proposal requires OTR intervention on several steps to ensure compliance with university policy, the intent of the academic department, and data integrity.
Total Sections Offered
In the 2023-24 academic year, there were 10,011 course sections on the Course Schedule, with 4,479 in Fall 2023, 4,295 in Spring 2024, and 1,237 in Summer 2024. When each section is proposed, it is reviewed through a series of rules to ensure compliance with school and university policies and requested procedures.
CourseLeaf Roles
CourseLeaf is configured to allow only certain individuals on campus to submit, edit, review, and approve requests for the course catalog and schedule. OTR manages the 373 active roles used by 257 unique individuals and provides annual training so that they can be successful in their duties.
E-mail Notifications
Certain actions in CourseLeaf CIM and CLSS require approval, while others are important enough that certain individuals should be aware of the action. OTR facilitates these notifications and 42,601 were sent in the past year.
1,334
10,011
373
42,601
General Announcements
The General Announcements (GA) is Rice University’s official catalog of courses, degrees, policies, and curricular requirements. The maintenance of the GA is the responsibility of the OTR with oversight from the Vice Provost for Academic Affairs for academic policy and faculty information.
During the spring and summer, before the GA is published each August for the next academic year, all academic departments and programs are asked to review their curricular listings in the GA to ensure that their information and requirements are current and up-to-date. OTR reviews the requested revisions for adherence to university policies and implements the edits to ga.rice.edu using CourseLeaf CAT.
The official website of the General Announcements. There are 958 unique pages that comprise the GA, each is reviewed multiple times by several staff and managers in OTR before being published. Over the past year, ga.rice.edu had 1.6 million page views.
STANDARDIZATION
Over the past few years, OTR has developed standardized templates for every possible curriculum that may appear in the GA to ensure the outcomes, requirements, policies, and opportunities for students are clearly identified. These 17 style guides continue to be refined as new credentials are proposed.
DEGREE REQUIREMENTS
After the GA is finalized each year, the applicable degree requirements are coded into Degree Works, Rice’s Degree Audit system. For the 2023-24 academic year, there were 288 unique sections (called “blocks”) of requirements that had to be scribed by highly trained staff.
Degree Audit and Graduation
What many students see as the “end of the journey,” a dedicated team in OTR oversees student progress toward graduation. OTR manages the major, minor, and certificate declaration and general curriculum change process for students, as well as overseeing Degree Works, Rice’s degree audit system.
OTR staff regularly assist students with questions pertaining to degree progress, train advisors and others in the community on the use of Degree Works, and advise on how General Announcement policies apply to degree attainment.
38,909
8,820
Degree Audits Processed Exceptions / Course Substitutions Processed
CURRICULUM UPDATES
4.5K
2,573
Degrees Awarded in Fall 23, Spring 24, Summer 24
OTR updates student curriculum based on major/major concentrations/minor/certificate declarations, as well as changes to catalog years. Over 4,500 updates were made over the past year.
MAJORS AWARDED BY ACADEMIC YEAR
Customer Service
OTR provides customer service to the Rice community, alumni, parents, and others inperson at the Allen Center in Room 116 and remotely (via request tickets, direct e-mails, video conferencing / Zoom, and phone).
Requests are typically responded to and resolved on the same business day. Feedback for any interaction with staff is encouraged to be submitted via our Feedback Form.
TICKETS SUBMITTED
32,227
OTR uses a number of e-mail aliases to direct tickets to a ticketing system that is managed by staff. Once a ticket is received, it is organized and sent to an appropriate queue and the correct staff member for processing.
WEBSITE VISITORS
The OTR website (registrar.rice.edu) welcomed 250k visitors, with the most visited pages being the Academic Calendar pages. OTR also offers the Academic Calendar in a Google Calendar format for subscription.
VA BENEFITS
OTR processes VA benefits for a portion of students using benefits to pay for education costs. In the 2023-24 academic year, Rice had 182 students utilize benefits, and OTR was directly responsible for processing 74 of those.
Classrooms
OTR manages Rice’s 102 general purpose classrooms on behalf of the Provost.
While managing these rooms, OTR is responsible for assigning academic classes to rooms when departments have requested them for a specific class, finding appropriate space for events, and maintaining and enhancing the rooms in collaboration with the Classroom Quality Management Team (CQMT).
62,000
Hours of classroom utilization by academic classes between 8am and 5pm in Fall 2023 and Spring 2024 combined
5 TYPES OF ROOMS 5,510 SEATS 102 ROOMS
1 2 3
KRF 105
Kraft Hall 105 was the most used room for the 2023-2024 academic year* for a total of 915 hours being dedicated to academic classes.
Restricted Time Blocks
OES 130 RZR 123
O’Connor Building for Engineering and Science 130 was the second most used room for the 2023-2024 academic year* for a total of 914 hours being dedicated to academic classes.
As Rice continues to grow, so do course offerings, especially during “Prime Time” meeting periods. Due to this, OTR was required to shut down several scheduling time blocks over the past academic year: one in Fall 2023 (TTh 10:50am - 12:05pm) and three in Spring 2024 (MW 2 - 2:59pm, TTh 10:50am12:05pm, and TTh 2:30 - 3:59pm). OTR typically blocks these time blocks when it appears that the supply of the rooms will be exhausted during the room assignment process.
Rayzor Hall 123 was the third most used room for the 2023-2024 academic year* for a total of 881 hours being dedicated to academic classes.
*Includes Fall 2023 and Spring 2024 only.
Space Stretched Thin
Rice hit its highest single time period room utilization rate in Spring 2024 when the TTh 10:50am - 12:05pm scheduling block hit 94.12% from 8am to 5pm. During this time period only three rooms were not in use, with all three being special-use rooms that are difficult to place classes in.
Data, Reporting, and Security
OTR is the data steward for student data at Rice and oversees access to Rice’s central student information system, Banner, and some auxiliary systems.
In this role, OTR assists the Rice community by fulfilling data requests, identifying and processing access to electronic student records, and providing FERPA training to the community. OTR also produces Tableau vizualizations that assist in other university processes.
ALL-TIME MOST VIEWED PUBLIC DATA VIZUALIZATIONS
52,214
Number of students with data in the data warehouse
1 2 3 CREDIT HOUR MATRIX
Tool provided to assist departments/instructors in identifying the appropriate amount of contact/ preparation time for a designated credit hour.
Standard time Block options
Listing of approved standard time blocks for course scheduling.
OFFICIAL CERTIFIERS
Listing of the Degree Works Official Certifiers.
442
Users with access to Degree Works
702
Users with access to student records in Edgar
199 Ad hoc data request tickets submitted to OTR
SYSTEMS / VENDORS USING OTR DATA
12Twenty 2U Aetna AIMS parking ALMA ASIMUT Blackbaud Canvas Chase College Source
CourseLeaf EAB Navigate eClinical Everbridge Follett Fusion (iO) IAM Inside Track Interfolio ISSM
Marching Order
Name Coach National Student Clearinghouse Paradigm Slate StarRez Touchnet Validity