Kwey (Hello), Krista! You were the College’s Registrar for almost nine years. What was the best part about that?

The most rewarding part of being the Registrar at Algonquin College is that I got to have influence on the student experience in small and big ways nearly every day. Whether looking at policies or looking at daily service interactions, the Registrar really has a great pulse on what’s happening with students within the College.

Is there a project or initiative that you implemented as Registrar that you are especially proud of?

One of my favourite experiences as Registrar was being a co-lead of the Student Central project, which brought together multiple services from across divisions of the college to create a centralized hub where students would be able to access meaningful supports to start their enrolment journey and continue their enrolment journey.

The Student Central is awesome. I used it many times when I was a student.

You’re now the College’s Vice President, Student Services. What are some of your goals in your current role?

I truly want to contribute in a very meaningful way to the student experience through the launch of a new Student Information System that allows the College to continue to progress with technology, which will create time for human interactions where they’re most meaningful, because we’re not spending time doing tasks.

I also really want to contribute positively to the end-to-end journey from that first point of contact with students, whether in their home community or here at the College through to when they graduate. That is work that I care deeply about and I know the Student Services division supports the academic delivery in vital ways.

You’ve mentioned the new Student Information System, Thesis Student Management—or Thesis SM, for short. How is it different from the system that the College currently employs?

Fundamentally, what’s different about Thesis Student Management is that it is cloud-based or a software-as-a-service (SaaS) system. In fact, we’re using levers in the system to configure it specifically for Algonquin College’s needs. And by leveraging those configurations and the tools within the system, that will help us maintain currency as technology continues to evolve.

Moving to Thesis Student Management will also provide 24-hour access. And there are now new tools for students to guide their own journey and planning. So, we know from learners, those are the things they want: easy to access, 24-7, and the ability to plan with good information. And we are very confident that the portal will help deliver that.

“The launch of a new Student Information System [will allow] the College to continue to progress with technology, which will create time for human interactions where they’re most meaningful.”

My colleagues and I at the R3 Project are tasked with implementing Thesis SM. From your vantage point as Executive Sponsor, what makes the R3 Project unique?

The R3 Project is unique in that it is truly a college transformation project. It’s not just a Student Information System implementation. It’s the replacement of our core system of record that fundamentally will enable a more modern technology architecture. The R3 Project is going to touch every member of the College community.

Transformation is change, and change can make some people apprehensive. What would you say to our colleagues and friends who might be feeling worried about the implementation of a new Student Information System?

What I would say to all of our community members who are apprehensive is to be a little bit patient, to ask questions, check out the website, watch videos, and learn as much as they can in preparation so that when we get to the point of training, they’re ready, they have an idea of what’s coming. The thing that we know to be true is that the product we have on Go-Live should be good.

But there will be upgrades and development in the product. And so we know over time—very soon after we go live—we’ll start to see continuous improvement in play and that will continue for the duration of the system.

It’s good to know that the new system will continue to evolve even after it goes live. Any parting comments, Krista?

The last thing I’ll add about the R3 Project is that it is a big project, it’s complex, it’s multi-year, and so I just very genuinely want to express my gratitude to this amazing College community for the hundreds of employees that have contributed to this project, even before it was called R3, through idea sessions, business process mapping, decision making.

We look forward to celebrating with everyone who’s contributed when we do go live, and we appreciate everybody’s patience. Migwech! (Thank you!)