Poehls to serve as registrar

After a months-long search process, campus leaders confirmed Friday that Alice Poehls will serve as the next University registrar.

Poehls, who previously was as registrar at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign for the last six years, will start at UNC on Sept. 30.

Poehls said she will spend her first days at the University getting acclimated to her new position.

"The first few days go by in a blur, but I will be getting organized," Poehls said in a phone interview Sunday. "I'm thrilled with this opportunity."

Carol Tresolini, chairwoman of the registrar search committee, said the group chose Poehls because of her dedication to the job.

"One of the people who gave a reference for her said she lives, breathes and eats being a registrar," said Tresolini, who serves as associate provost for academic initiatives.

"She is an extraordinarily strong candidate," Tresolini said. "I think we were impressed with her profound knowledge of her professional role as registrar."

The search for a registrar began in April when David Lanier announced that he'd be stepping down after 20 years as University registrar. His retirement went into effect Aug. 1.

Poehls said she will use Lanier's years of experience as a resource.

"I've known David Lanier, the past registrar, for several years, and I think highly of him," she said. "And I will look to him for assistance."

As registrar, Poehls will be charged with overseeing course scheduling, classroom assignments and registration - just a few of the myriad responsibilities of the position.

She also will face the constraints of reduced classroom space in the midst of campuswide construction.

"All the buildings coming on and offline - we're going to really be working hard and scrambling in some cases to make sure we have all the classrooms," Tresolini said.

Aside from the daunting task of coordinating the University's educational infrastructure, Poehls will face an overhaul of registrar's office.

In less than two years, the office, along with numerous campus offices, will relocate to the Student and Academic Services Building.

The building, under construction on South Campus, will house the registrar, academic advisers and other student support offices.

Before the relocation, however, Poehls must steer her office through broad technological upgrades.

"We're having to become increasingly sophisticated in our use of technology - when it comes to maintaining students' records," Tresolini said.

Tresolini expressed confidence in Poehls' ability to handle the transition. During her time at Illinois, Poehls played a role in the campus' efforts to install SCT Banner, an advanced communication system between the University of Illinois-system schools.

"One of the things that impressed us about Alice was that she was instrumental in the implementation of Banner at Illinois and was widely praised for the work she did in getting that system implemented."

The knowledge and experience she gained will be crucial in UNC's attempts to improve its technological capabilities, Tresolini said

"As we move forward here with some of the initiatives here at (Information Technology Services), her background in that area will be invaluable to us," she said. "I'm sure that she'll be developing a close relationship with the folks in ITS."

Poehls said she is confident in her ability and the ability of her staff to handle the tasks.

"None of these challenges are small, but they can be accomplished with planning, cooperation (and) sharing of information."

 

Contact the University Editor at udesk@unc.edu.