Tina Sturgis, senior associate registrar at Rochester Institute of Technology, has been appointed University registrar by Provost Rob Clark. Sturgis was selected following a national search and succeeds Nancy Specht, who is retiring.
Sturgis will begin as registrar on September 1.
The University registrar provides the leadership and strategic direction for a wide range of policies and processes relating to student academic records, data management, data security, enrollment policies and procedures, federal reporting and compliance.
The Registrar’s office within Arts, Sciences & Engineering is a staff of 13 providing students with access to their academic records, enrollment and degree verifications, academic calendars, and exam schedules, along with other important student data.
Sturgis will have expanded responsibilities to direct, manage, and supervise a University-wide team of 23 staff across the institution’s academic units. The broader responsibilities reflect a shift from the current decentralized reporting structure to one central registrar function. Through the transition, Sturgis will manage change while promoting team success and a culture of mentorship and support.
“In Tina Sturgis, the search committee found a professional who has a proven record of collaboration and who is innovative, adept at emerging data technologies, and enjoys building teams and processes informed by best practices,” said Clark. “She presents the skills and ability to garner trust and engagement from colleagues across the institution and lead within our complex University setting. Tina is returning to the University having gained valuable experiences at RIT, and I am happy to welcome her back to serve in this key leadership position.
“I am also extremely grateful to Nancy Specht who has served the University with distinction and great dependability as registrar,” said Clark “We have all benefitted greatly from her ability to manage and improve a wide range of academic and administrative processes, and I wish Nancy well in her retirement.”
Specht concludes her time as registrar following the successful, multiphased implementation of a new student record system, UR Student. She began her career at the University 20 years ago and officially retires as assistant dean for institutional research and University registrar.
On a part-time basis, she plans to continue working with the UR Student team on further developments to the system, and assist with the transition to a new registrar.
The registrar search committee was cochaired by Rick Libby, senior associate dean of graduate education and postdoctoral affairs at the School of Medicine and Dentistry, and Jeffrey Runner, dean of the College.
“The University registrar is such an important position at our University and a role where having the greatest attention to detail is absolutely necessary in maintaining precise enrollment and degree records for thousands of our students and alumni, as well as carefully managing the academic schedules and registrations that keep our University humming every day,” said Runner. “Tina Sturgis has this attention to detail, as well as being a data driven, problem solver. Having her in this role ensures that the Registrar’s Office will continue to operate at the highest levels of service and compliance.”
At RIT, Sturgis also oversaw and led many facets of the multiyear transition from a “home-grown” records management system to a new student information system.
The project leadership included full implementation and adoption of the system on all campuses and global locations, redefining business processes, rewriting and creating new policies, and drafting and delivering training to the entire RIT community.
She has served as senior associate registrar at RIT since 2012, directing a team of 12. She has responsibility for all forward-facing records services, including those for students, advisors, and academic department leadership.
She directs records and registration efforts, including standardizing scheduling and administrative processes for all RIT campus locations—Rochester, Croatia, Kosovo, and Dubai—and led the effort to deploy the use of academic prerequisites and corequisites, electronic transcripts, degree audit, automated transfer credit and test credit and streamlined the degree certification, academic action and recognition, curriculum tracking, and bulletin production processes.
From 1999 to 2000, Sturgis worked as a resource counselor at the University of Rochester’s Career Center, now the Gwen M. Greene Career and Internship Center. She received her bachelor’s degree from RIT, and a master’s degree in college student personnel administration from Canisius College. She is a member of the American Association of Collegiate Registrars and Admissions Officers.
