Arduous and stressful. Annoying and troublesome.
By the time they graduate, many a Fairfield student would agree that this array of feelings can best describe registration for them at one time or another during his/her academic career.
However, University Registrar Robert Russo and his staff are working diligently to help change this description by adding significant modifications to the already successful process.
“Every semester we’re learning from the previous,” said Russo in an exclusive interview. “In the past we’ve had some times when the system would freeze up…too many students signed up at once,” he said. “This year we didn’t have one problem.” Russo took the time to explain the procedures of old and the advancements to come.
Freshmen Register?
In an effort to make the transition to college easier for incoming freshmen, the University will be establishing a new procedure. “We want to have them [new freshmen] register during orientation while they’re here with their advisors,” Russo said. This move will help to alleviate some of the add/drop traffic that occurs at the beginning of the semester, specifically from freshmen who are dissatisfied with their assigned courses.
With incoming freshmen being more content with their first semester courses, the Registrar’s office will have more time to tend to the needs of the current student body.
A major cause of the lengthy nature of registration lies in the staff’s need to deal individually with each spot that opens up in a course. Herein lays the next, more immediate modification.
Waitlist 2.0
“One thing we have coming down the road with our software is [an] automated waitlist,” Russo said. He detailed the current process of alerting a student to a course opening by email, waiting to find out his/her decision, and moving down the waitlist line if he/she no longer desires entry.
The new software, which was installed this semester but not in time for registration, should allow this process to operate seamlessly. “Our software, if a spot opens up, will send an automatic email,” Russo said. It will continue down the line if that student declines the spot until it is filled.
This addition will make an already-effective waitlist system even better. It is a mechanism utilized not only for filling in empty seats in certain classes, but also as a marker of demand for different courses. “I think the waitlist function is important,” said Dr. Mary Sallyanne Ryan, professor of communications, in an interview. “…It’s a good documentation of students that were interested.” Departments can then use this information to recognize where more sections are needed.
From On Line to Online
The registration process has come a long way in recent years, adapting to the technological trends of changing times and undergoing reconfiguration accordingly.
Dan Ryan’07, assistant coach of Cross Country, experienced a tremendous progression in the process during his time as a student. “My freshman year we all had to wake up at the crack of dawn… to sit in a line in the Registrar’s office in Canisius,” Ryan said in an interview. “I remember there were some crazy nursing majors who brought blankets and camped out the night before.”
Yet subsequent years would yield a much easier process. “Junior year I was at a clinical for nursing, and in the middle of the day I just went to a computer for registration in the hospital and then right back to what I was doing,” Ryan said. “Registering online was infinitely easier.”
Still the process had some kinks to be worked out, so then-Academic Vice President Orin Grossman created a committee to help refine the process. “A Registration Committee comprised of students, faculty and staff worked hard to evaluate registration options and recommend changes,” said Judith Dobai, Associate Vice President for Enrollment Management, in an email.
No Booklets, More Benefits
Doing away with course booklets all together this semester proved to be another step forward. Mary Frances Malone, Associate Vice President for Academic Affairs and former head of the now-disbanded registration committee, said in an email that “students on the committee suggested that we move away from paper.”
Russo detailed the cost-effective benefits of ending booklet production. “We figure on saving about $10,000 this year,” he said. It was also a matter of keeping pace with other schools. “We [Fairfield] were one of the few [schools] that still had the booklet.”
With the booklet online, it is easier to incorporate adjustments to classes. Russo also hopes to make certain messages that pop up during registration. “We’re going to try to, in the booklet, explain more the messages that students are getting on the system,” he said.
Back to the Future
Of course, registration will never appease every student. Fairfield University Student Association President Jeff Seiser’10, in a press conference-style discussion several weeks ago, advised that “The important thing is to plan ahead.” If all else fails, there's always the waitlist loophole.
Click Here for a numeric breakdown of this semester's Registration period
