The Heart of Academic Operations: The Ross Registrar’s Office Supports Faculty, Staff, and Students
The Michigan Ross Registrar’s Office works behind the scenes to manage key academic processes, ensuring registration, classroom assignments, and support services run smoothly year-round. By maintaining academic records, overseeing course scheduling, troubleshooting registration issues, managing course enrollment, providing guidance on Ross and University of Michigan policies, and more, the team helps students progress toward their degrees, supports faculty in scheduling and managing their courses, and assists staff in coordinating academic programs. Their work is essential to creating a well-organized and effective learning environment at Ross.
“Our objective is to help students navigate their academic journey and to support faculty and staff — whether they need help organizing classes, scheduling rooms, or interpreting policies — so everyone can contribute to the Ross mission,” says Kathy Hastings, director of the Michigan Ross Registrar’s Office.
Working collaboratively to serve Ross
Hastings leads the Ross Registrar’s Office, which is a team of seven people whose work follows a steady rhythm that repeats each academic term and requires close collaboration with internal partners.
They team up with program offices to address registration issues and ensure students meet all academic requirements and stay on schedule to complete their degree programs. They also work with faculty and area chairs to ensure that course offerings are updated each term and that course prerequisites are evaluated for updates. They coordinate with Ross Operations to arrange course and exam setups. They also partner with Ross IT to make sure registration and scheduling systems function smoothly and reliably.
“We meet frequently with different offices and have standing monthly meetings with many of them,” said Hastings. “We prioritize open lines of communication with our partners so we can continually improve our processes and address any gaps. Our goal is always to find better ways to serve the Michigan Ross community.”
Continually improving academic processes
To keep improving how they serve Ross, the Registrar’s Office sometimes seeks out resources beyond the business school. A recent example is the adoption of the Series 25 classroom optimization tool, which the U-M Office of the Registrar has used for many years to schedule central campus classrooms. With Series 25, they can see how well classrooms will be utilized with respect to technology and capacity, and make adjustments while still in the scheduling process.
To bring the tool to Ross, Hastings and her team collaborated with Ross IT, area chairs, Ross Operations, the U-M Registrar, and U-M Information and Technology Services to participate in a small pilot of units using the Series 25 tool.
The Ross Registrar also worked with Ross IT to further enhance the Series 25 tool’s effectiveness by allowing administrative staff and area chairs to indicate classroom needs and layouts for their area’s faculty. This helps the Registrar better match classes to the rooms they need. Thanks to this combined effort, Ross now has more control over classroom assignments and can better meet the needs of faculty and students.
“Series 25 has made it possible for us to match classrooms to courses much more effectively,” said Hastings. “This means faculty and students end up in spaces that truly fit their teaching and learning requirements.”
Fostering professional development and connection
The Ross Registrar’s Office values team development and connection. Each summer, the team comes together for a retreat that blends professional development with team building. The morning focuses on training, goal setting, and aligning around the office’s mission. The afternoon turns into a fun team challenge with activities like escape rooms or bowling to boost collaboration and morale.
“These annual retreats give us a chance to step away from our daily routines, strengthen our relationships, and focus on our shared purpose,” said Hastings. “It’s a time to reflect, reconnect, and come back reenergized to serve the Ross community together.”
Hastings and her team welcome the opportunity to collaborate and receive feedback from other units.
“We’re here to help,” Hastings emphasized. “Our door is always open, and we value working together to make our processes and support even stronger.”
