Heather
Hogarth Smith has been hired by the University of the Virgin
Islands as the new Director of Access and Enrollment
Services/Registrar.
Smith comes to UVI with more than 12 years of higher education experience, beginning her higher education career at the University of the West Indies (UWI) Mona Campus in Jamaica. She has since worked as an assistant registrar for Student Academic Services at the University of Technology in Jamaica and most recently as a registrar at Cipriani College in Trinidad. In her position, Hogarth Smith will oversee all aspects of the St. Thomas campus' Registrar's Office.
"A Registrar's Office plays an important
role in the life of students," Hogarth Smith said, noting that
students interface with the office at the beginning of their
academic careers to enroll for classes, throughout their tenure,
then finally to ascertain their credits for graduation. Further,
current and former students and alumni contact the Registrar's
Office for transcripts. The Registrar's Office is also responsible
for maintaining students records and creating and adjusting class
schedules.
Some of Hogarth Smith's main goals for the
Registrar's Office include promoting professionalism through
providing high-quality customer service, which should lead to
improving student retention and increasing graduation rates. The
registrar said she will participate in developing plans and
procedures to address retention and timely graduation of students.
"It is one thing to retain the students for a number of years," she
said. "But for them to graduate on time is another
matter."
"As a major service area we must be
welcoming and courteous, not only to our students but to all our
visitors," Hogarth Smith said. "Providing efficient and effective
service is important because it impacts on how the students feel
about their university," she added. "It's important that we produce
satisfied graduates." Hogarth Smith said UVI's newly developed
service charters will facilitate the implementation of higher
service standards in her office.
Automating frequently requested services
is one project being developed by the Access and Enrollment
Services Component. Soon students will be able to generate
enrollment verification reports from the University's Banweb based
system/ BUCSS.
"We are pleased to have someone who has
the experience and the professional caliber as Ms. Hogarth Smith to
direct the area responsibilities of the Registrar's Office," said
UVI's Vice Provost for Access and Enrollment Services Dr. Judith
Edwin. "She brings with her a sense of responsibility and
commitment to working with students, faculty and staff that will
prove to be effective as we move to achieve our objectives in
Vision 2012."
Hogarth Smith was impressed by the beauty
of UVI's St. Thomas campus when she visited in 2005 as an advisor
to Jamaica's University of Technology debate team for the 15th
Annual Caribbean Intercollegiate Debate Competition. She recalled
her favorable impression of the University, "It struck me as being
the ideal setting for student success."
Hogarth Smith holds a bachelor's degree in
Foreign Languages and Social Sciences from UWI and a master's
degree in Industrial and Labor Relations conferred jointly by
Cornell University and Bernard Baruch College - CUNY. She is a
Georgetown University certified Spanish to English translator. She
attended the Oxford University Higher Education Management Program
at Oxford and Warwick universities in summer 2002.
The registrar reports to the vice provost
for Access and Enrollment Services. Hogarth Smith's office is
located on the first floor of the Administration and Conference
Center. She may be contacted at 693-1151 or at
hhogart@uvi.edu.