Betsy Korn, Associate Dean of Studies, and Anne Burgess, Recorder, will perform the duties of Registrar beginning July 1, replacing Herb Morton. Burgess will serve in the newly created position of Assistant Registrar. “Rather than hire a new registrar from outside the office, we have decided that the registrar’s current duties will be reallocated within the office among several people,” wrote John Rogers, Dean of Studies, in an email to faculty and staff. Gail Ralston, Office Administrator, and Paul Cernota, Scheduling Officer, will be responsible for additional duties in the office, according to the email. The internal search began when Morton announced his retirement from the position in October. Korn will continue in her role as Associate Dean of Studies in addition to the new position of Registrar. “[Korn] will take on the oversight of calendar and of assessment schedules, prepare dockets for Academic Review Meetings, serve as clerk of Academic Review Meetings and chair the prize committee,” wrote Rogers. Rogers continued, in the email, “[Burgess] will be in charge of many of the record keeping responsibilities that currently reside with the registrar . . . [Burgess] has demonstrated the ability, understanding and patience that will enable her to assume these new duties.” Korn is eager to begin her work. Korn said, “I am excited. I know it’s a lot of work, but I like learning new things. I don’t like stagnating. This is a challenge, and I like challenges. It is a big challenge to fill the shoes of someone who has been at this job for over 30 years.” Morton has served as Registrar since 1976. Burgess said she is eager to take on her new duties. For the past six years, Burgess has worked part-time, but she will now become a full-time administrative staff member. Burgess said that next year for two days each week, Morton will train her and Korn on the Datatel program, where all of the records are stored. According to Korn, “[Datatel] is for technologically-savvy people. It’s not user-friendly. But we’ll learn.” Burgess believes that her past work as Recorder will be “extremely helpful” in her new role. When she started six years ago, many of the records were only hard copies. Now, the records are primarily computerized. Since Korn’s new job will limit her role in the advising program, the Dean of Studies will search for a new Assistant Dean for Advising (ADA), Rogers wrote. The ADA supervises the academy’s advising program and will play a vital role in developing and implementing the new online advising system.” The assistant dean will also oversee and support advisors while serving as a link between the Admission Office, College Counseling Office, department chairs and chair of Advising Council. As of now, Korn does not expect any major problems. She said, “We’ll have a steep learning curve. Once we get over the first hump, we’ll get a sense of what works and what doesn’t – and we’ll see if anything needs to be tweaked.” Burgess agreed with Korn and said that they will need to see how and why things are done the way they are in order to reassess their approach. Although they have worked in the same office for six years, Burgess said that this is the most significant task she and Korn have worked on together to date.
