The Office of the University Registrar has implemented the first of many changes to the office, which will eventually include modifications in staff and office design, as well as the shifting of many Registrar services to the Internet.

According to Jackie Charonis, Assistant Vice Provost for Student Affairs and Associate University Registrar, an ongoing “staff transition” is currently in process, with some new staff members being hired and others leaving the office. While Charonis was not legally permitted to acknowledge whether layoffs have taken place, she did confirm that staff movement is underway.

Since the Registrar’s office vacated its former location in Old Union and moved to the Harold Modular two years ago, the office has taken steps to shift duties away from the Registrar and decrease the size of the office. At the beginning of the fall quarter, the Office of the Vice Provost for Undergraduate Education took over responsibility for handling student forms relating to academic standing.

Within the last month, the Registrar closed its mail room — through which it personally handled the mailing of transcripts and other student forms — and contracted the work to an independent company outside the University. Charonis claimed that, following the move from the Old Union office, the quantity of mail had decreased significantly.

“It didn’t make sense that we needed two full-time people working for dramatically less mail,” she said.

But Charonis noted that the office has found that, working through its current mailing service, student forms and other mail take considerably longer to arrive at their destinations, and that the office is looking for another mailing service that will handle deliveries more quickly.

She said that, in the future, she would like to see an increase in the number of students working behind the counter of the Registrar to assist other students.

“In my experience, students helping other students gives some of the best experiences,” Charonis said.

As early as this summer, Charonis said, the lobby of the Registrar’s office will be remodeled to provide a more “welcoming” feel for students who come in to speak with members of the office. At the same time, however, the office is trying to move as many of the responsibilities and services of the Registrar away from the traditional model of students filling out forms and handing them in at the office to a new model that utilizes the Internet as much as possible.

“I can’t see us not ever having face-to-face interactions with students,” she said, “but we want to increase options for students.”

Charonis believes that the Registrar’s office may eventually develop online programs to meet the petitioning needs of students without having them physically come into the office. This could potentially include online functions by which forms requiring the consent of a professor or administrator can be signed and processed entirely online.

In the long run, Charonis said she sees the Registrar’s office moving toward a more “service-oriented” format in which students do not need to visit to handle the processing of forms, but in which the same number of people will be in the office to assist students who want to discuss matters personally.

“I think you’ll see this going on for the next five years or longer,” Charonis said.