The UNK Registrar’s Office received the University of Nebraska Board of Regents KUDOS award June 26.
KUDOS awards recognize university staff for their professional expertise, service and “superior dedication” to UNK and the University of Nebraska. It is the university’s top staff award.
Led by University Registrar Lisa Neal and Associate Registrar Ryan Schmitt, the Registrar’s Office was credited for serving students during a leadership change and facing unprecedented challenges brought by the COVID-19 crisis.
“Lisa and Ryan were newly hired and in place for a short time before contending with the pandemic and the shift to the online spring semester,” said Senior Vice Chancellor for Academic and Student Affairs Charlie Bicak. “Lisa made important decisions that were well informed by deans, chairs, faculty and me to ensure smooth transitions. She and Ryan also dealt in professional style with changing transfer alignments with community colleges and other transfer institutions.
“Related to this, we will install a new general studies program beginning in the fall. This has been dependent upon the flexibility, resilience and academic insight of their staff.”
In addition to Neal and Schmitt, the Registrar’s Office includes staff members Jessica Bishop, Joel Cardenas, Vickie Edwards, Margaret Klimek, Trista Lefler, Kim Seitler, Laura Tadlock, Mallory Waters and Olivia Whittaker.
The team was recognized for:
- Revising COVID-related policies that extended class withdrawal deadlines and deadlines to change from letter grades to a credit/no credit option;
- Providing guidance for policy changes;
- Expanding acceptance of class credits for transfer students;
- Providing support for combining spring and summer commencement ceremonies.
All were high-detail processes made convenient and understandable for students by their creation of an exceptional frequently-asked-questions mailer, read their nomination. Added to this was their implementation of Perceptive Content management software.
