2023 Year in Review

2024 is here, but before we turn the page on 2023, please take a few minutes to review the year’s highlights from our teams and the office. This list is extensive, but not comprehensive. It may not reflect the challenges we faced, but it does demonstrate team collaboration and commitment that aligns with our new mission: Helping our campus community thrive using accurate, secure academic record management and supporting the institution's primary functions.

In 2023 we recognized staff as they retired. We also welcomed new staff members to the office and our teams. As we grow and change, we continue to assess team structure and alignment to promote an environment that allows for creative thought, continuous improvement, engagement, and professional development.

Thank you for your contributions to our success in 2023!

Highlights of Team Accomplishments

Academic Data Management 

• Continued provision of data services and support to campus partners and the Office of the Registrar for both internal and external data requests while managing access to the MAUI Data Warehouse and Campus Data reports.
• Initiated and supported updates to the MAUI Data Warehouse to restrict access to FERPA protected non-directory information.
• Created two new Power BI reports, one to facilitate commencement planning and communication, and a second to automatically track course approval requests which need corresponding updates in the General Catalog. Developed a set of classroom utilization visuals and a set of reports to assist the School of Social Work.

Academic Structure

• Created a shared email address to support continuity of operations and provide our campus partners a central point of contact for program of study and academic unit questions.
• Developed academic structure webpages to be published (soon!) on the provost's office website, providing our campus partners with information and timelines related to academic organization and program of study changes.
• Continued collaboration with Distance and Online Education to assist with reporting by identifying and updating programs of study incorrectly labeled distance/hybrid. 

Alumni Data Management

• Supported the university and the UI Center for Advancement (UICA) by assessing, revising, and entering more than 72,000 educational records in the UICA database including approval and changes for mandatory fee appeals, tuition assessments, and course fee overrides.
• Collaborated with the UICA manager of data management in the design of the new UICA database to better incorporate MAUI data.

Athletic Certification 

• Academically certified approximately 650 student-athletes at least twice a year for practice and competition in Division I intercollegiate athletics.
• Updated or maintained more than 145 current NCAA degree audits to reflect the academic eligibility of student athletes.
• Completed annual athletic reporting, including the Academic Progress Rate (APR) report which tracks the eligibility and retention of student-athletes, and the NCAA Graduation Success Rate report which is a measure of student-athlete graduation success.
• Partnered with the Office of Student-Athlete Academic Services, admissions, and college offices to create a method to assist in certifying incoming transfer student-athletes.

Classroom Scheduling/Course Offerings 

• Collaborated with our campus partner, the Office of Student Financial Aid, to put programming into place for a date compliance/financial stop in submission within the MAUI Planner to enhance Title IV compliance visibility of the sections’ start and end dates as they relate to the university standard session dates. 
• Utilized Public-Private Partnership (P3) funds of $2 million to modernize university classrooms across campus throughout the current fiscal year. Included updates to classroom furniture that is designed to be inclusive, accessible, and mobile while also addressing classroom safety improvements and supporting the University of Iowa's strategic plan goals of excelling in teaching and learning, creating a welcoming and inclusive environment, and holistic well-being and success.
• Launched the new classroom website on the latest version of Drupal. Reviewed EPB and SH University Classroom capacities to “right fit” the number of seats to the square footage to improve learning space environments. Collaborated with the classroom committee to review and publish new square footage requirements for each room type to modernize classroom construction and renovations. Began programming for the new Health Sciences Academic Building (HSAB) University Classrooms scheduled for use in fall 2025.

Commencement  

• Completed an RFP for commencement regalia as the university continues working toward a more cohesive experience for all students, regardless of their college or ceremony. Under a new vendor, undergraduate regalia was redesigned to align with the University of Iowa brand while keeping it affordable for students. Completed in collaboration with staff from the Office of the Provost, Office of Strategic Communication, Iowa Hawk Shop and University Bookstore, and the Graduate College.
• Executed an RSVP extension giving students extra time to RSVP for commencement ceremonies. Resulted in approximately 200 more RSVPs, allowing for more accurate data for ceremony planning and better communication with participating students.
  
• Enhanced communication efforts through targeted messaging utilizing data from the newly developed Power BI report.

Communications/Websites 

• Continued the deep dive into the content inventory for the Office of the Registrar website looking closely at all content, FAQs, policies, and more, to develop a basic menu structure for the new website on the newest version of Drupal.
• Started the registrar's office accessibility ambassadors group to share and develop best practices for accessibility in all areas following guidance from the larger accessibility group on campus.

Course Library 

• Completed the document repository project, in partnership with ITS, providing our campus partners access to memos and communication in the Course Library that has been saved to the individual course.
• Developed revise course form documentation and collaborated with MAUI Help team to publish, completing the project to provide Course Library information on the MAUI Help website.
• Reviewed and processed almost 2,100 course approval forms, including 1,119 inactive course forms during the annual three-week inactive course review process. 

Degree Audit 

• Enhanced functionality with projects focused on accessibility and exceptions. Improved accessibility after a manual review of nearly 700 rows of encoding to replace characters not easily recognized by screen readers. Used innovative encoding to streamline the exception process for Graduate Management Programs (GMP) certificates while reducing the potential for error. This proactive step will support efficiencies as the GMP certificate programs and enrollment continue to grow.
• Processed degree audit edits for more than 1,200 course approval forms; a single course approval form could involve dozens or, in some cases, hundreds, of edits. Processed more than 800 exception requests for graduate and professional level audits, which often included multiple exceptions per request. Reviewed more than 700 program of study and athletic certification audits for curriculum changes during the catalog cycle in spring 2023 and made encoding changes to more than half.
• Worked with ITS, CLAS, and the Academic Advising Center to support upcoming changes to general education world language requirements in CLAS and the College of Education which required creative thinking and extensive testing to develop new functionality using high school information to satisfy requirements on the degree audit. Partnered with the Graduate College to develop a streamlined process to begin creating audits for all graduate programs of study. 

FERPA

• Collaborated with General Counsel to modify and refine FERPA directory information.
• Published “If You Build It, They Will Come*: The University of Iowa’s Office of the Registrar FERPA Team” for AACRAO’s College and University Journal in honor of FERPA’s 50th anniversary.
• Developed business rules and a communications plan for new FERPA three-year compliance training.

General Catalog 

• Collaborated with the university's web strategy and development team and CourseLeaf to complete a template refresh aligning the online version of the General Catalog with University of Iowa brand standards.
• Expanded communication efforts through Dispatch to provide additional transparency relating to the catalog's production timeline, added catalog training to the registrar services training options to provide another opportunity for the campus to connect with the team for training, and collaborated on a campus-wide presentation giving an overview of curriculum management.
• Partnered with the Graduate College to create the catalog change form, collecting information relating to degree requirement changes for the next catalog cycle. Provided feedback on the Graduate College's degree audit acceleration plan which aims to create degree audits for graduate programs replacing hard copy non-doctoral and doctoral plans of study.

Graduation Services 

• Completed final degree evaluations and the team is on pace to confer 7,791 degrees, and award 1,848 minors and 1,439 certificates, to spring 2023, summer 2023, and fall 2023 graduates. On pace to produce and distribute 7,791 digital (CeDiplomas) and print diplomas.
• Reviewed and resolved approximately 300 students’ applications to be assessed resident tuition and fees (fall 2022–spring 2023) or for the Iowa First Nations resident tuition program.
• Began working with ITS to create an electronic residency application.
• Continued to contact degree candidates with information on when degrees may be conferred and diplomas received, to reduce or eliminate concerns and questions while also addressing when final grades are due and added to records, and when duplicate diplomas, certificates, and transcripts can be ordered.  

Imaging and Closed Institutions

• Completed digitization and MAUI upload of Broadlawns School of Nursing (1,500 student records) and coordinated transfer to Shiloh University transcripts.
• Coordinated the transfer of Iowa Wesleyan University (IWU) academic records (roughly 40,000 electronic and 9 boxes of paper) and catalogs upon closing. Resulted in 950 transcript requests and the need to digitize 68 catalogs. 
• Corrected 250 missing Type 1 digital transcripts.
• Completed a roadmap for completing work on 11 closed institution transcripts we hold.

IVETS 

• Completed training and learned the new VA portal, Enrollment Manager, to certify and submit student enrollments.
• Worked through more than 750 requests for certification of enrollment workflow forms.
• Collaborated to revise and improve the veteran worksheet.

MAUI Help Site  

• Advanced registrar/MAUI Help resources to ensure instructors, advisors, and department administrators benefit from streamlined access to academic processes.
• Enhanced overall efficiency and reinforced dedication to providing comprehensive support within our academic community.

Reg-MAUI-Support/Registration

• Enhanced student record management through strategic initiatives including a comprehensive academic calendar, registrar notes expansion, graduate exam automation, expected completion date, expanded registration model, priority group reevaluation, and GMP non-standard registration date introduction.
• Improved efficiency via streamlined workflows for former email-handled requests. Processed 180 advisor assignments, 150 course-section cancellations, and 60 seat reservation/restriction requests successfully.
• Processed 23,000+ final grade lists with less than 0.4% unreported by the deadline.
• Established impactful collaborations with diverse partners, fostering synergy between internal and external teams. Engaged key stakeholders such as the Program of Study team, ICON Tier 3 developers, Academic Advising and Admissions, Graduate Management Programs, Follett/Iowa Hawk Shop and University Bookstore, and the Office of Teaching and Learning.

Sample Plans  

• Completed the graduate sample plans project, including more than 300 active graduate sample plans, in collaboration with the Graduate College.
• Added World Languages Third Level Proficiency GE mile marker to 136 CLAS undergraduate sample plans during the annual curriculum review cycle.
• Completed a project to improve the MAUI Sample Plans of Study dashboard in collaboration with ITS.

Security

• Created a comprehensive MAUI Access Manual to document processes, the security structure, and support continuity of operations.
• Absorbed the name and address (master) access functional responsibility from ITS, in addition to academic and degree audit access assignments.
• Formalized a functional area committee to support overall MAUI security processes and understand future enhancement needs and created a shared Teams environment to facilitate cross-collaboration and consistency.
• Collaborated with ITS-AIS team to develop specialized access roles aimed at securing FERPA-sensitive data within the MAUI Data Warehouse.

Strategic Initiatives

• Held a series of town halls to develop a modernized mission, vision, and values for the Office of the Registrar.
• Collaborated with Treasury Operations (TO) to develop an MOU to create a more formalized approach to front line service in the UI Service Center moving front line staff to TO reporting lines to simplify processes.

Transcripts and Verifications and UI Service Center 

• Served as first-person point-of-contact for 10,822 drop-ins (3,271 were registrar or billing-related) in addition to responding to 5,655 phone calls and 8,600 email inquiries.
• Processed approximately 49,000 transcript orders including closed school requests and 15,000 verifications of enrollment and student information.

Tuition and Fees

• Edited and proofed 129 varied tuition groups.
• Created the new Iowa Memorial Union Facilities fee for the 2023–24 academic year.
• Completed numerous appeals (both mandatory and tuition) approved by the colleges.

Office-Wide Collaboration

• Hosted a teach and learn for campus partners and newer staff to give an overview of the registrar's curriculum management system, including key processes and deadlines for campus partners, providing links to a cohesive resource available to campus.