Registrar changes name
The office formerly known as the Registrar's Office has changed to Student Records and Registration.
This past August, the Registrar’s Office changed its name to Student Records and Registration. The ideafor this change came from Tory Oelfke, a Student Records and Registration staff member, who said this change was driven by a desire to better serve first-generation students by using more familiar terminology.
Oelfke explained that both CSB and SJU have been encouraging offices to reflect on how they best serve students. He felt that not all students were being served equally with the previous name, specifically, first-generation students.
“As a first-gen student myself, I think of families and students who have never been to college before. If you ask the average person what a registrar is, they probably wouldn’t know,” Oelfke said.
The staff at the Student Records and Registration Office want to ensure that students know what services they provide.
“We deal with registration, transcripts, and other records, so it made the most sense to choose a name that is meaningful to people. We also didn’t want people to get confused. We get other record requests through HR or student employment, and we wanted to be clear that the office was for students. That’s how we landed on ‘Student Records and Registration’,” Oelfke said.
The process of getting the name approved was simple. The team at the then Registrar’s Office came up with the new name, which was subsequently approved by the heads of Institutional Research, Economic Affairs, and the Chief Operating Officer. There were no objections to the new name, so the office went ahead with the change. With the new name having been approved, everything would need to be rebranded.
The official switch was made mid-August, and the office has been working to revise things since then. This included the office email address, which Oelfke predicts will be a lengthy and difficult process.
“We have a lot of accounts and accreditation places [associated with the email] that we only do once a year, so it will take at least a full year before we can get all of that updated and solidified,” Oelfke said.
In addition to the email address, the rebranding process also requires the office to update name tags, business cards, envelopes, stationery, documents, and transcript paper.
Many of these updates have already been put into motion following the introduction of a new logo last year.
Oelfke predicts the combined cost of changing the name and the logo will cost a couple thousand dollars.
“It’s not a glamorous process, unfortunately, but I think it’s a good one [change],” Oelfke said.
Student Resources and Registration isn’t the first office to make a name change for the sake of clarity.
Student Accounts also changed its name a few years ago from the Bursar’s Office. This change was made for the same reason: to ensure students knew which department to go to for their questions, even if they didn’t have previous experience with colleges.
The goal of these improved names is to streamline communication and improve accessibility for every student. Oelfke said this switch is a testament to CSB and SJU’s commitment to best serving all students, no matter their background
