Most university departments have regular department reviews--perhaps every few years on a designated calendar or perhaps on the occasion that a new administrator comes on board, for example. It’s an important part of continuous improvement of an office--and can also be a key resource for communicating with university leaders.
Rob Hornberger, Assistant Vice President for Enrollment Management and Services/Registrar, Missouri State University, recently completed a departmental review of the Registrar’s office at MSU and shared his insights regarding the process, which involved four main phases:
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Self-assessment,
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Internal review,
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External review,
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Disseminate results.
Self-assessment. “The AACRAO self-assessment guide was a great resource for us to use internally as an office,” Hornberger said. “It was a good opportunity to create empowerment and buy-in among all staff.”
Internal review. After completing a self-assessment, they reached out to constituencies on campus that regularly worked with the Registrar’s office. “They reviewed our findings and added their own assessment,” Hornberger said.
External review. The Registrar’s office assembled a team of external reviewers--Brad Myers, University Registrar at Ohio State University (now retired); Jay Haugen, University Registrar, Saint Louis University; and Doug Swink, Registrar, University of Missouri - Kansas City--for a two-day campus visit with a variety of campus constituencies.
“We tried to put together a team with a diversity of experience,” Hornberger said. “We looked at school size, public/private, what SIS they used--and we chose two reviewers who were from Missouri, because they had some familiarity with MSU and were more cost effective.”
Hornberger gave the external review team the results of the first two phases, as well as sharing additional data about organizational structure, operations, policies and procedures.
“There was a lot of good, rich data that helped us take a step back and formulate the kinds of questions we would ask the various staff members we were going to interview,” Swink said.
Disseminating results. The final stage was to provide an action plan to the Vice President that the office reports to based on the recommendations emanating from the review. “The report helps us tell the story about what we do a little bit better,” Hornberger said. “And we were able to give the vice president an objective study of our office that would help her advocate on our behalf.”
“The review process is an important way to provide critical information to decision makers,” Myers said. “The internal and/or external reviews might really validate something the office wants to prioritize and add credibility to the request.”
The process can also provide some visibility and transparency for an office. “The campus exposure during the internal and external reviews can help people understand the function and purpose of the office,” Haugen said. “It’s almost a campus training exercise.”
In addition, all three reviewers agreed that they benefitted from the process. Seeing the internal workings of another registrar’s office spurred ideas and conversations that they took back to their home campuses.
“The learning goes both ways,” Myers said.
These four professionals will talk more about their department review experience in their AACRAO Annual Meeting session “Administering a Successful Department Review.”
For more professional skill development, insight and growth, join your colleagues at the AACRAO Annual Meeting, April 2-5, 2017, in Minneapolis, MN. (The above session will be held Tuesday afternoon.) Register now!