Dr. Kathleen Ross has left her position as SFU registrar and executive director of Student Enrolment for the position of associate vice-president, Enrolment Services and registrar at UBC. On Nov. 1, Ross will begin a five-year term at UBC as the new associate vice-president, Enrolment Services and Registrar.
The appointment was announced in a UBC broadcast email on Aug. 30, and the completion of SFU’s fall convocation ceremonies marked the end of Ross’ time at SFU. Ross had been in her position at the university since 2007.
UBC advertised globally for this position and selected Ross from the applicant pool which included candidates from across North America. According to Randy Schmidt, associate director of Public Affairs, Ross was selected because of her outstanding leadership in similar roles, her strong student focus, and her experience with student information systems.
Schmidt says that UBC expects Ross “will help ensure UBC continues to be a leader in the provision of outstanding student services, will help attract outstanding students to UBC’s two main campuses, and will move our student information system to the next level.”
There’s not a lot of people, nationally. The pool is not deep.”
– Dr. Tim Rahilly, SFU associate vice-president, students
During her time at SFU, Ross completed an EdD in Educational Leadership, and was awarded the Dean of Graduate Studies Convocation Medal for Academic Excellence in spring of 2011.
The SFU registrar is responsible for overseeing student records, such as registration requests, class lists, and grades, as well as academic integrity issues, strategic enrolment management, and acting as the secretary to Senate.
Dr. Tim Rahilly, SFU associate vice-president, students, is now leading a search committee to fill the registrar position. The registrar reports to Rahilly, who will act as chair on the search committee for the new registrar. Also included on the committee will be two deans (including one faculty dean), the president of the faculty association, two elected faculty at-large members, two staff members from SFU Enrollment, and a representative from the SFSS.
The search kicks off on Nov. 4 with a community consultation, where, according to Rahilly, community members and stakeholders are welcomed to “identify the characteristics and traits of someone who should be in this role.”
The committee will then decide whether there are sufficient candidates for the position internally, or if they would like to look externally as well.
“There’s not a lot of people, nationally.” said Rahilly. “The pool is not deep. It’ll be a lot of work for us to find suitable candidates. We’re a big school, we’re a diverse school, and British Columbia is not an inexpensive place.”
During the search process, committee members will be able to gather feedback from the community, but will not be able to give back any information beyond the point at which they are in the search. “What we’ll share is, we’re searching, we have candidates, we’re shortlisting, they’re coming to campus, decision pending, board accepted, we have a registrar. So if you see a puff of white smoke, it’s like a pope, we have a registrar,” said Rahilly.
Once the search committee has selected a candidate, that candidate will need to be approved by the VP academic, Jon Driver, recommended to president Andrew Petter, and then recommended by Petter to the Board of Governors. Rahilly hopes to have a candidate found by May. During the interim, Rahilly and various staff members will be stepping in to fulfill the various duties of the registrar.
“It’s with very mixed emotions that I see Kate go,” said Rahilly. “I’m delighted for Kate that she is progressing in her career and has the opportunity to go up a step in terms of rank, and UBC offered that opportunity. I personally think she would have been foolish not to have taken it.”
Ross declined to be interviewed for this piece.
