Since Oct. 18, 2022, there has been nobody occupying the position of registrar in an official capacity. In early October, a search committee was declared as failed, leaving the position’s future uncertain.
Karen Stanish, a professor of mathematics who also serves as chair of the Keene State College Senate, was the senate representative on the registrar search committee. According to Stanish, the search committee was created during the summer, which she noted as an unusual time to start a search in higher education. “We were not in that normal hiring cycle, and we knew that from the beginning,” she said.
Stanish said the pool of applicants was small, and the committee’s goal was to bring two or three candidates to campus as finalists. The committee ended up bringing one finalist to campus, Stanish said, noting there was an open community forum for the finalist at the time.
She said the search ultimately failed but was unable to comment on why due to legal reasons. “Searches could fail because all the candidates withdraw from the search… it could also be that the search committee finds candidates unacceptable… the third way could be if the Keene State administration decided they wanted to do something different with the position,” Stanish explained.
KSC having lower salaries than other state higher education institutions in New England could be a roadblock, Stanish said. “The salaries that we offer for faculty and staff at Keene State, while on par with maybe Plymouth State… [are] not really on par with other state schools in New England,” she explained.
While many vacant positions have been difficult to fill at the college, Stanish said the position of registrar presents its own challenges in regard to the experience threshold, as well as the high demand and low supply of qualified applicants across the region. “Unless a candidate really particularly wanted to be in New Hampshire, wanted to be at Keene State, they’ve got lots of choices,” she said.
The duties of a registrar range from maintaining the student information system to maintaining academic records, Dean’s List eligibility, upkeep of student transcripts, ensuring course schedules are in place, and maintaining curriculum. “The last, maybe most important thing that a registrar would do is a degree audit,” Stanish said. A degree audit is a process that ensures students have met the requirements to graduate. “The actual graduation, actually getting your diploma is something issued by the registrar,” Stanish explained. Lastly, registrars maintain student transcripts post-graduation.
A higher education institution is legally required to have a registrar. For the past year, Associate Provost Sue Castriotta has served as KSC’s registrar on an interim basis, Stanish said.
Castriotta said the summer search committee was the first and only search done over the course of the past year. “While we determine what it is that we need to do to move forward, I’ll remain [as] acting registrar,” Castriotta said.
“Registrars are a pretty rare breed, it’s not something that everybody does. It’s kind of a narrow path, so when people become registrars, it’s a pretty skilled position,” she explained. “There were a lot of registrar searches that have been ongoing in recent months, because we saw that, so we knew it would be tough competition to fill that position,” she noted.
Castriotta also said the position’s salary is something KSC is looking to reclassify, a process in which certain members of an institution are tasked with analyzing the job market and determining pay grade. For Keene State, the University of New Hampshire (UNH) handles the classification for positions. “We did get feedback from at least one of the candidates who said our salary was not competitive for them, so we would probably put that back out there,” she said.
The staff at the registrar’s office have been helpful during Castriotta’s time at the office, but the increased workload has been straining at times. “I actually have three jobs, I’m also the acting dean [of faculty affairs], so I’m spread a little thinner than I would like to be,” Castriotta said.
Karrie Kalich, the former dean of faculty affairs at KSC, left the college in August for a position as vice president of academic affairs at Landmark College in Putney, Vt.
“I think once we have an opportunity to talk about what our options are for the registrar’s office, we’d hope to be able to beef some things up over there… but I’m waiting to hear more,” she said.
As Associate Provost, the registrar’s office reported to Castriotta, so she had previous experience with the office but noted it was initially uncharted territory for her at first. “That wasn’t a new thing for me, but being acting registrar was a new thing for me and some of the details I’ve learned over the past year have been pretty exciting,” she said.
Castriotta said plans for the position are currently uncertain after the search committee failed. “We’re still debriefing the search itself, and then again, what are our options and what can we do?” Castriotta said.
Nathan Hope can be contacted at
nhope@kscequinox.com
