On Aug. 31, Julie Green began her first day as registrar at the University of King’s College.
Green climbed the stone steps of the A&A, turned left, and entered the registrar’s office where she would soon devote many hours to data analysis, student recruitment, and student retention.
“We’re just really excited to have Julie’s energy and enthusiasm in the registrar’s office,” said Kim Kierans, vice-president of King’s. “She’s just wonderful; she’s very much going to put King’s students first and foremost. She’s very concerned that students must have the right advising and services to succeed.”
Green graduated with a masters of education in post-secondary studies, focusing on student retention and success.
“I really enjoy knowing that I’m improving things for students and allowing them to focus their attention on their academics,” said Green about choosing a career in post-secondary studies. “To be honest, one of the things that drew me to King’s is its smaller and more focused campus. I’m able to work closer with students, faculty and staff.
“You can’t really separate student recruitment and retention—they go hand in hand. Ideally you should make sure, for the people you are attracting, that the college will be a good fit for them and aligns with their long-term goals. You should be giving them a realistic experience,” said Green.
Former registrar Elizabeth Yeo left King’s in December 2014. She’s currently working as senior manager of student service policy and college programs at the Nova Scotia Community College. Upon Yeo’s departure, the university announced it would be consulting with a business analyst about the possibility of the registrar’s office combining with Dalhousie University. School bursar Jim Fitzpatrick stepped in to act as registrar in the interim.
A search committee was soon appointed to craft a job description and begin advertising for a new registrar.
The nine members of the search committee included faculty, staff, students and representatives from the registrar’s office at Dalhousie. Together, members identified key registrarial qualities, which included vision, leadership, strategy, organization, critical thinking and systems management for recruitment and retention.
“You want to make sure it’s done right, fairly, and correctly,” said Kierans about the hunt for a registrar. “We advertised widely and internationally.”
Each of the final three applicants underwent three interviews: they were individually interviewed by the search committee, the staff from the registrar’s office, and George Cooper, president of King’s.
Kierans says many members of the search committee will not sit idle now that the position has been filled.
“My job, in a sense, is to help mentor the new registrar and make sure she succeeds, and the committee feels the same,” said Kierans. “We’re not just here to hire and disappear. (Green) is going to spend the first while getting to know the academic program; she’ll be very accessible to students.”
Green says she will even be sitting in on occasional FYP lectures. “I’m really excited to be starting at the beginning of the academic year—there’s such an enthusiastic atmosphere,” she said. “It’s kind of funny, because I always tried to take as many English and philosophy classes as I could while studying at (Memorial University of Newfoundland). If only I knew there was a place like King’s.”
