by Tracy Roberts, University Registrar, Murray State University
Kentucky Admissions and Registrar’s Officers (KACRAO) convened for their 91st Annual Meeting in Owensboro, KY, on October 14-16th at the new convention center overlooking the scenic Ohio River. Owensboro has revitalized their downtown and offers many restaurants, shops, walking trails, and a water park.
The keynote speaker was Dr. Tony Newberry, retired president and CEO of Jefferson Community and Technical College. He brought a very engaging topic on how the Kentucky Community and Technical College System was founded. As Admissions and Registrar staff, we often don’t think about our jobs – how they came to be, what impact they have on others. Dr. Newberry was involved in this ground-breaking effort from the very beginning and talked about how it was similar to “Building a Plane While in Flight” since everyone had to learn as they were going and shared lessons learned.
Conference sessions ranged from topics on female veterans in college, reverse transfer, recruiting, financial aid’s satisfactory academic progress, student loan defaults, data driven enrollment management, and professional development. The KACRAO conference always includes roundtable discussions where colleagues can share best practices and get help on similar issues. Last year’s Best Presentation “FERPA Jeopardy” returned as “FERPA Jeopardy 2.0.” And yes it is possible to have fun with FERPA!
Each year, KACRAO picks a charity to partner with for a Giving Back program. This year’s charity was the Mary Kendall Home for Children and Youth. The home in Owensboro has an adoption program that handles both international and domestic adoptions. The on-site residential program helps children ages 11-17 and is for both male and female children. The younger residents could be juvenile offenders. Long term intense mental health treatment, court ordered out of home situations, and emergency shelter are other services provided for this age group. The program focuses on having the youth work on life goals such as financial and social support, education and employment skills, weekly group and case management meetings, home study, placement, and post-placement community programs. Members of KACRAO donated many boxes of needed supplies to help with their on-site residential program.
The annual conference ended with a motivational topic on teambuilding through behavioral identification and conflict management. Dr. Tim Todd, Interim Provost and Vice President for Academic Affairs at Murray State, shared great information, made us laugh, and had all of us taking quizzes. It was interesting to see how our personality traits impact others in the workplace and how we can use that knowledge to build a better team.
Kentuckians are looking forward to a year packed with workshops and conferences, including their 92nd Annual Meeting in Lexington, Kentucky in November 2016. For more information about KACRAO, visit www.kacrao.net.