What’s real in registration: Southern University Registrar’s Office Spotlight

The registration process at Southern University has become synonymous with a lot of negative placeholders in the past with many students.
Although the registration process can indeed be a strenuous process, the many aspects of it often comes down to individual preparation. At the same time, there are many ideas about said process that could, in theory, make things much easier, if you know who to ask.
Dianna Gilbert Depron, who serves as the university’s registrar, was able to shed some light on what all really goes into her department and the actual responsibilities that they have.
According to Depron, the Registrar’s Office is responsible for maintaining student records, the university catalogues, and handling transcripts, among other jobs.
As far as Depron’s own responsibilities go as the official Registrar of Southern, communication with the student body is one of the main roles of responsibility that Depron has.
“Adding [classes] , dropping [classes], withdrawing from classes, and assisting with transfer requests [are my everyday responsibilities].” said Depron in regards to her role as Registrar on a day-to-day basis.
Before taking over as the university Registrar, Depron served as the Executive Director of Admissions for Southern. Despite the change, Depron said herself that the positives of her new position makes the change worth it.
“The difference between [being Registrar] and being Director of Admissions is that I get the opportunity to see all students and help [students] with their problems.” said Depron about her favorite part of her job.
Depron joked that the traffic that goes through her office on a daily basis is so constant, that she has taken to calling her office the “Problem Office” because “if a student has a problem, they normally come here first.”
“You’re going to run into problems regardless. [You just have] to get it done as early as you can to minimize the problems you will run into.” said Devin Raby, a sophomore civil engineering major from Baton Rouge, Louisiana.
Many share Raby’s view of the registration process, including Ryan White, a sophomore civil engineering major from New Orleans, Louisiana.
“It’s cool for what it is, but I feel like there are things they can do better. Like if you don’t catch [registration] when it first starts, then you’re probably just out of luck.” said White in regards to the registration process and being able to choose good classes.
While it is the goal of the everyone involved to have the smoothest transition in terms of the registration process, both the student body and those who work in registration have spoken to the difficulties that come with the registration process.