It's the end of the term as we know it, to adapt the R.E.M. song just a bit. The last of the undergraduate exams end on Wednesday. A year ago this was a hectic time for me. As Assistant Registrar, I worked frantically to bring resolution to the term. The scanner would arrive, and Maha or Susan and I would sit in my office and scan rosters for hours.
The process is complex, as every grade is verified by two people after it's been uploaded to the database. Frequently we had problems with the scanner. I became quite an expert at figuring out solutions. Eventually we had our forms printed by the scanner company (this greatly eliminated forms that the scanner couldn't read). Our goal was always to have everything done before Christmas Eve so grades could be put into the mail the first day after Christmas.
This year, everything is changed. I was the one delivering the scanner to the Registrar's Office so they could get started. I loaded the scanner into my car this morning and drove to Millhiser Gym. Maha and I worked to set up the scanner, and we went over the process of scanning and uploading grades.
Then I walked away.
I'll be on call if she needs me to help with a problem (in fact I went back early this afternoon because the scanner was getting stuck too often), but it's now my place to step back and work on other projects while my friends press on with the grades.
I told Carolyn shortly after leaving the Registrar's Office that it was something like stepping off a speeding train. Now that I am no longer bound by the deadlines of the academic calendar, everything has slowed down to speeds I remember from my earlier jobs at Richmond. I'm still busy, and deadlines are just as deadly as ever. It's just that the Registrar's Office is one of those places where you literally watch your life speed by. Time blurred: you would be cleaning up registration for next term while processing grades for the current one. I still can't believe I worked there for five years: it went so fast.
I miss the pace of the Registrar's Office and am happy to be free of it, all at once. I think part of it is that I am still settling into my new job. Most of my projects to date have been Registrar-related, and I am working hard to establish myself in the other areas on campus. While I am learning about the other areas, I'm not working like I used to - and I miss that. But at the same time I feel like I work a regular work day. Every major task gets planned and has an end.
With the baby on the way, I'm glad things have slowed down. But when I stop by the Registrar's Office, I at least get a look back inside the machine that never stops.
Blue skies, temperatures in the forties: this is Winter in Richmond. I was happy to wear my Winter coat to work today. Happier still that I got to walk around campus on such a pretty day.
reading: Banner Accounts Receivable System 3.2 Release Guide; 1 Maccabees; The Hobbit (J.R.R. Tolkien)
listening: A Christmas Album (Barbra Streisand); The Christmas Album (The Manhattan Transfer); Home for Christmas (Amy Grant); A Christmas Album (Various); Christmas (Michael W. Smith)
visiting: Critics On Display; ASTD
© 1998 Kevin J.T. Creamer