Twenty-one Iowa State faculty members congregated in the Gold Room of the Memorial Union on Wednesday afternoon to hear Laura Doering, university registrar candidate, speak about what her role as Registrar in Strategic Enrollment Management at Iowa State would be.

Doering, a graduate of Iowa State, joined the office of the registrar here at Iowa State 15 years ago, and for the last five years has worked as the director of transfer admissions. One of her greatest benefits, she said, is that she is familiar with the culture of Iowa State.

“Every place has it’s own culture,” Doering said. “I’m a fit of this culture; I’m an alum, I love this university, and it’s where I’d like to stay. I’m a known entity versus an unknown entity.”

Doering said understanding the culture will help her understand how to stay current at Iowa State. Even though Doering has been working here for the past 15 years, she plans to bring much change to the office.

“Change is a good thing,” Doering said.

Three things Doering said she plans to work on are mission and educational outcomes, technology and systems, data and research and partnerships.

“First and foremost, I’m about students,” Doering said.

One of the most important jobs the registrar has is to support students’ adventures from orientation through graduation, as well as supporting the faculty and staff in their teaching, research, and extension and outreach efforts by providing input and data.

Doering said she believes Iowa State needs to provide better access to data. The Office of the Registrar needs to play an outreach role and be a resource when it comes to data.

In the past the Registrar has previously worked with the student schedule planner and AccessPlus and is currently working on the data warehouse and the online catalog. Doering says she plans to work on a new student information system, social digital media and mobile applications and websites such as the campus map and schedule of classes.

“Eventually our legacy system will need to be replaced,” Doering said. “Being an advocate and a leader in technology will be something the registrar needs to do, and I think I’m poised to do that.”

Doering said that bringing someone from outside the institution who does not know how the student information systems will be more of a challenge. Going with an internal candidate like herself is beneficial because it will be less difficult to transition, especially because Doering has already built important strong relationships within the university and the state of Iowa.

Those existing relationships, however, will become different, Doering said. Should she be offered the position, she would have a very different role in the office, changing her current relationships with staff.

“Part of the challenge is changing the position, not so much the person, but the position,” Doering said.

Doering shared a quote by M.J. Riggs, and said that it is an important part to the Iowa State community to live and grow in Riggs’ quote, “We come to college not alone to prepare to make a living, but to learn to live a life.”