Associate Registrar

Harvard University; Massachusetts; On-site; USD 60,000 - 90,000; Full time

Job summary

Harvard University’s Graduate School of Design seeks an experienced Registrar to manage registrar operations, student information systems, tuition and billing, and data reporting. The role oversees enrollment, transcripts, and degree verifications, while ensuring policy compliance and accurate records across multiple programs.

Reporting to Enrollment Services, this position coordinates with Admissions, Financial Services, and academic units to streamline processes, support students, and enable

Qualifications

• Must have experience managing registrar operations and student information systems.
• Ability to produce data, tuition and billing reports, and queries for stakeholders.
• Coordinate system enhancements and cross-department workflows.

Responsibilities

• Oversees registration policies, records maintenance, and policy updates.
• Manages transcripts, enrollment verification, and degree verifications.
• Counsels Leave of Absence procedures and updates student records.
• Coordinates Mt Harvard workflows, billing files, and course enrollment processes.
• Serves as registrar liaison for cross-registration with other Harvard schools and MIT.

Tools

my.harvard system

Parchment

National Student Clearinghouse

Concur

Query Manager

Buy2Pay system

ECM

Job description

By working at Harvard University, you join a vibrant community that advances Harvard's world-changing mission in meaningful ways, inspiring innovation and collaboration, and building skills and expertise. We are dedicated to creating a diverse and welcoming environment where everyone can thrive.

Why join the Harvard Graduate School of Design?

The Harvard Graduate School of Design (GSD) educates design, research, and scholarship leaders to make a resilient, just, and beautiful world. The GSD offers degree programs across a range of design disciplines—architecture, landscape architecture, urban planning, urban design, design engineering, and real estate—as well as advanced research programs that cut across these disciplines and a robust public program of lectures, exhibitions, and publications. The immense variety of people, programs, and ideas at the School sustains a vibrant and rich environment for learning, inquiry, and collaboration, unlike any other design school. For more information about Harvard GSD see: https://www.gsd.harvard.edu/.

SUMMARY

Reporting to the Director of Enrollment Services, this position is responsible for the management, planning, and implementation of registrar operations including maintenance of the student information system, production of data, tuition and billing, queries and reports, and general system coordination. This position will evaluate research, and report on opportunities to enhance services and streamline procedures.

TYPICAL DUTIES AND RESPONSIBILITIES

Registration and Enrollment

• Oversees registration by developing, executing, documenting, and evaluating policies and procedures.
• Ensures that academic policies and procedures are enforced, and proper records are maintained.
• Recommends changes to the student handbook and student policies each academic year. Works with the Student Life staff on any appropriate policy changes.
• Manages the ID Card Distribution Process.
• Monitors the general registrar email inbox, responding to inquiries appropriately and effectively.
• Oversees the production of transcripts by serving as the point of contact for Parchment, our third-party transcript ordering company.
• Processes enrollment verification letters, diploma replacements, loan deferments, and other custom letter requests.
• Acts as primary contact with the National Student Clearinghouse, performing degree verifications and reports graduate student data.
• Counsels students on Leave of Absence procedures, providing them with the appropriate documentation and makes all necessary changes to students’ records.
• Facilitates the migration of incoming students to the my.harvard system including updating their admission status and creating their programs in the student information system, as well as working with admissions on communicating processes for them to obtain their Harvard Key and GSD Email addresses.
• Block enrolls students into courses when appropriate.
• Serves as the primary contact for cross-registration out of the GSD with other Harvard Schools, MIT, and Tufts Fletcher School.
• Manually enters MIT grades and manages students’ enrollments in “variable unit” MIT courses each academic term.
• Serves as the primary contact for course substitution and waivers, processes these documents by entering them in the student information system.
• Coordinates the independent study process, answering student questions, collecting documentation, and enrolling them in the appropriate courses.
• Term Activates students each semester and updates maximum units as appropriate.
• Reviews students’ units each term to determine that they are meeting their full-time requirement or graduation requirements.
• Creates and uploads billing files (workshop fees, dorm charges, etc.) appropriately to charge students for various fees each semester.
• Charges course fees each semester as appropriate.
• Processes students’ formal withdrawals from the GSD.
• Provides new students with an information session on my.harvard and registration during Orientation with the Registrar.

My.harvard

• Serves as one of the GSD’s primary administrators (along with the Registrar) for the my.harvard system. Advises other staff on best practices and recommended uses for my.harvard.
• Anticipates, recommends, executes, and develops technological improvements to streamline processes.
• Responsible for data in the Student Information System (my.harvard) relating to awards and prizes, student groups, warning letters, extracurricular activities, and course data.
• Manages the tuition calculation process for the fall, spring, and summer semesters in conjunction with the Student Financial Services team.
• Processes TAP student documentation.
• Creates Grade Rosters and communicates grade deadlines with faculty.
• Processes and examines students’ advising reports to ensure that course substitutions and waivers are accurately reflected.
• Manages and updates all the registrar forms and works with the my.harvard team to create and manage GTE forms with associated workflows.
• Update students’ time statuses based on the number of units they are enrolled in.
• Manages the Department Work Center, to share various queries and data to the different department program administrators.
• Works with the CWD and my.Harvard teams to add various required training holds to student records prior to the start of each academic year.

Commencement

• Oversees the communication and procedures for 3 graduation periods per year. Creates and Ensures accuracy of graduation lists, providing graduation data to various constituents.
• Responsible for the graduation application each academic year. Ensures that the graduation application is visible to the appropriate students each term and monitors the students’ application progress and regularly follows up with those who have not submitted an application.
• Manages the diploma ordering and acts as the primary contact for Paradigm, the diploma vendor.
• Recommends improvements to the diploma distribution process and oversees diploma distribution.

CPT and International Students

• Recommends and executes policies and procedures for CPT at the GSD.
• Serves as the main point of contact for all CPT related questions, reviews documentation for accuracy, and provides documentation to the HIO.
• Enrolls students into the appropriate CPT courses and follows up to ensure grades are received.
• Assists with processing of I-20s for continuing international students and international students returning from leaves.
• Sets up the OPT (Optional Practical Training) and CPT (Curricular Practical Training) workshops with the Harvard International Office (HIO).
• Reports leave of absence data to the HIO on the first day of classes each semester.
• Provides graduating international student data to the HIO for each graduation term.

Additional Responsibilities

• Provides support for various Student Affairs events including Commencement, Registration, and Orientation.
• Serves as content manager for the Registrar website. Rethinks how our information is provided to students and executes improvements to ensure that students can find information quickly.
• Acts as primary contact with the Harvard University Archives Office.
• Manages the Enterprise Content Management System (ECM) product embedded within my.harvard.
• Pays bills in Buy2Pay system and processes credit vouchers and travel expenses via Concur for registrar account.
• Produces ad hoc statistics and data for GSD and University administrators via Query Manager.
• Maintains an up-to-date, accurate manual for this position.
• Produces ad hoc documents in Microsoft Office suite.

SUPERVISORY RESPONSIBILITIES

• Supervises student and temporary employees as needed

PHYSICAL REQUIREMENTS:

• Applicants must be able to perform typical office tasks, including sitting for extended periods, performing near-vision tasks such as reading