Griffin will depart to become Princeton University registrar on Aug. 1. When she leaves, Dartmouth mathematics professor emeritus Thomas Bickel, who served as registrar until Griffin came to Dartmouth in 1999, will take over as interim registrar until a permanent replacement is named.
Associate Dean of the Faculty for the Sciences Rob McClung will chair the search committee, which is still in its infancy, with only one other definitive member of what is to be a committee of six to ten Dartmouth professors and staffers, McClung said.
The registrar is charged with a long list of duties that deal with planning, organizing and recording all of the College's instructional activities. The registrar, for example, coordinates student records, class scheduling, grading, the academic calendar, the academic catalog, faculty elections and contributes to academic policy decisions.
Griffin told The Dartmouth that she is not leaving due to any issues with the College but instead to take on a new challenge and be closer to her family. Administrators seem to hold Griffin in similarly high esteem, as both McClung and Dean of the Faculty Carol Folt, to whom the registrar directly reports, said that Griffin embodies what a good Dartmouth registrar should be.
"I think we're looking for someone like Polly [Griffin] who brings a great deal of experience, ability and common sense," McClung said.
McClung said that the search committee will look for a candidate with a variety of qualities that include good interpersonal skills and the ability to work independently as well as in a team atmosphere.
Historically, professors without previous experience in a registrar's office, such as Bickel, were often chosen for the job. But McClung said that, since the job of the registrar has become increasingly complex recently, some experience and specialization would also be important considerations.
Bickel cited organizational changes and technological advances that make a registrar's job different today from what it used to be. Among those changes are the College's abandonment of its first-come-first-serve course selection policy and the advent of the Bannerstudent website, which allows students to, among other things, sign up for, add and drop classes online.
"We're looking for the best person we can get, but best means a lot of different things, and we're looking for a combination [of these skills] from applicants," McClung said.
The committee chairman emphasized that the registrar's job was extremely important, but its importance might only be noticeable if something goes wrong.
"The registrar is one of the key academic interfaces of the institution with the students," McClung said. "If it's going smoothly you don't even realize."
McClung mentioned the ease with which students can add and drop classes, students' ability to get into the classes they want and the accessibility of the educational resources online as advantages that would quickly be missed if the registrar faltered.
After the search committee is finalized and advertisements for the job opening have been circulated nationwide, the committee will field and review a number of applications and recommendations. They will then winnow the pool down to a set of finalists who will visit Hanover for a set of in-depth interviews with committee members and other administrators. The finalists' interaction with members of the Dartmouth community, McClung said, will help the committee determine which of the qualified registrars would work well at Dartmouth.
If all goes to plan, Dartmouth will hire a new permanent registrar by the start of the next academic year because of how difficult it would be for a registrar both to leave a school in the middle of the year and to start at a new school in session, McClung stated.
"Our goal is to move quickly and to make sure the transition is very smooth for students and the staff," Folt said.
