Registrars and Admission Officers: Build Undergraduate Research Experiences in Your Offices

Having spent many years in registration and records, we often are struck by the number of higher education professionals with advanced degrees who choose not to contribute to the literature. At times, these individuals seem almost averse to conducting research, as though that chapter of their lives closed when they completed their advanced degrees. Yet registrars and admissions officers know student data better than any others on campus. They create hundreds of reports annually; meet with students to discuss a broad range of academic and policyrelated issues; teach classes; write and edit academic policies; and advise, recruit, and admit students. They often are considered the hub of campus knowledge. Conducting research seems a natural extension of their work. Not only do they have a responsibility to contribute to the literature, but they also have the potential to elevate faculty members' perceptions of their work, highlight the role of their offices in the scholarly literature, and provide a sense of professional and personal accomplishment as a result of conducting and publishing research.This is not to deny that their roles encompass more duties and responsibilities than ever before, and they are expected to achieve at the highest levels-often with dwindling resources. So how can colleagues be encouraged to pursue a research agenda when so many already feel overwhelmed? The help that is needed is right in their own offices.When I arrived at Elon University in January 2013 to begin my career as registrar, one of the biggest challenges I faced was how to effectively leverage student workers to manage the office's numerous responsibilities. Unfortunately, as in many offices, the bar for student worker performance had been set very low. Student workers often were poorly dressed and were of the opinion that they were there to be paid to do their homework or browse the Internet-and perhaps occasionally assist a student or answer a phone call. Their few responsibilities did not come close to filling the time they were scheduled to work. This culture was difficult to change, and the student workers initially loathed my setting of a new standard relative to their time in the office.As we began to seek creative ways to engage student workers, we realized that they were well-positioned to help conduct higher education research. Particularly because Elon is a "writing-intensive" institution, its students are adept at answering questions by seeking information from a variety of electronic resources.We began asking the student workers to help develop new research ideas and to write annotated bibliographies on these topics. Some began to take ownership of research ideas that interested them and were energized by the potential to contribute to the literature. Many began to do more work at the office and to understand that the skills they were developing would help them in the future in a way that the clerical duties they had performed previously would not. Most student workers welcomed their new duties, acknowledging that they had felt bored and limited by their previous, undemanding roles. (Of course, some decided they did not want to work harder and quickly sought jobs elsewhere.)The students' new responsibilities began to produce opportunities for teaching and mentoring that further encouraged the students' engagement in research. Not surprisingly, the students wanted to know that they would be rewarded for their work. We explained the immense value of initiating a publication record to enhance their cocurricular transcript. Such work would distinguish them from other undergraduates, whether they were seeking to impress potential employers or pursue graduate education. Moreover, they were being paid to do work that would enhance their post-graduate opportunities.At the time we began this initiative, Elon had just completed its Southern Association of Colleges and Schools (sacs) reaccreditation, which included a new quality enhancement plan (qep) focused on writing excellence. …