Williams initiates change in SU Registrar’s office

Since the May 2004 appointment of Brenda K. Williams as Southern’s interim registrar, the office has experienced a profusion of change for the better, said Williams.
“I was very happy to return to Southern in 2004 and be asked to step in and become the interim registrar and make some changes,” Williams said. “We were just a little behind the times — not necessarily (meaning) that anybody hadn’t done what needed to be done in here — we just needed to improve on what we were doing.”
The SU System Board of Supervisors named Williams as registrar in February as a result. She said the biggest change so far has been the implementation of security systems.
“We have security cameras in this office and they are here so we can monitor who comes in to visit the Registrar’s office,” she said. “We’re not trying to catch criminals. We don’t expect we have criminals coming into the office. It’s just so we can have accountability of who comes to visit us and the purpose of their visit.”
As part of the security upgrade, a visitor tracking system has been implemented to monitor visitors, as well as the performance of the office’s employees.
“The visitor tracking system has two purposes, so we can keep up with who comes in, but also for us to monitor the work that’s being done by our staff members,” Williams said. “That helps us with making sure our customers are being serviced properly.”
Williams said the changes were made in an effort to come into the 21st century. She reemphasized the changes were not an attempt to catch criminals.
“We want to be clear it’s not intended to catch criminals because we don’t have a criminal element in this office and we don’t believe we serve a criminal element that comes to visit,” Williams said. “We are all about being accountable for what we do, how we do it and who we do it for in this office.”
She said prior to the implementation of the security systems, the office did not have security measures and did not monitor visitors. Williams cited the arrival of Dee J. Frank, the assistant registrar, as one the best things that has happened to the office and said Frank handles public relations matters in the office.
Frank came in July and said her goal is to ensure customer service as a top priority in the Registrar’s office.
“Right now, my role is to better our service in the customer service area and to provide the campaign that the Chancellor started in 1997 with courtesy counts,” Frank said. “Courtesy counts to everyone: Our students, our faculty, our administrators, as well as parents, students and friends.”
She said the office began utilizing comment cards for people who visit as part of increasing customer service standards.
“I take those cards and I call students if they were not provided the best service,” Frank said. “I will send that student a letter of acknowledgement as to why they were not provided that service. I would like to invite them back into the office, allow them to speak to the individual that worked with them so they can get a knowledge of who worked with them, because they may have to work with that person again.”