2008 Woodie Awards
Registrar office releases graduate student DARS
Ben Garbarek
Issue date: 4/27/07 Section: Campus
At the end of his first year as university registrar, and following discussions with student leaders and university administrators in the fall, Dave Sauter said that changes are being made - both with the Degree Audit Reporting System (DARS) and the staff.
During his recent campaign, newly elected Associated Student Government president, Jens Sutmöller, mentioned creating a single DARS for students with a double major. Students with two majors have complained in the past about needing two separate DARS and being forced to declare a primary and secondary major. Students have complained that by declaring a primary major, they frequently become shut out of courses for their other major during registration.
"It's enormously frustrating because students can only register for classes in their primary major," said Melonia Bennett, secretary of academic affairs for ASG. "Students get blocked out of classes for their secondary major."
The Office of the Registrar has since looked into the problem, but has hesitated to make any promises, according to Carol Jones, assistant registrar.
"It sounds like an easy task (merging two DARS reports into one)," Jones said. "But it is very difficult to put together in
one audit." Sauter agreed.
"It's a huge task," he said. "It can be done, but the entire way DARS has been written is based on a primary major."
Sauter said that revising the DARS to work with two majors would require a complete re-vamping of software.
"Connecting every major to every other major would create an incredible spider web," Sauter said.
He also noted that only 10 percent of students at Miami have two majors. While the complete overhaul of the software may benefit this minority, he said the DARS office has worked to improve the DARS for the other 90 percent with only one major.
According to Jones and Sauter, the office has added a new administrative position, a DARS encoder, who will work to make sure all programs are correct. Sautar said this new position will be in charge of updating the requirements of every major and minor as well as add exceptions in various majors, particularly in the area of fine arts. For instance, if a student takes an independent study or a different class that has been approved to count for a particular major requirement, the updated DARS will be able to recognize this and give the student the proper credit.
During his recent campaign, newly elected Associated Student Government president, Jens Sutmöller, mentioned creating a single DARS for students with a double major. Students with two majors have complained in the past about needing two separate DARS and being forced to declare a primary and secondary major. Students have complained that by declaring a primary major, they frequently become shut out of courses for their other major during registration.
"It's enormously frustrating because students can only register for classes in their primary major," said Melonia Bennett, secretary of academic affairs for ASG. "Students get blocked out of classes for their secondary major."
The Office of the Registrar has since looked into the problem, but has hesitated to make any promises, according to Carol Jones, assistant registrar.
"It sounds like an easy task (merging two DARS reports into one)," Jones said. "But it is very difficult to put together in
one audit." Sauter agreed.
"It's a huge task," he said. "It can be done, but the entire way DARS has been written is based on a primary major."
Sauter said that revising the DARS to work with two majors would require a complete re-vamping of software.
"Connecting every major to every other major would create an incredible spider web," Sauter said.
He also noted that only 10 percent of students at Miami have two majors. While the complete overhaul of the software may benefit this minority, he said the DARS office has worked to improve the DARS for the other 90 percent with only one major.
According to Jones and Sauter, the office has added a new administrative position, a DARS encoder, who will work to make sure all programs are correct. Sautar said this new position will be in charge of updating the requirements of every major and minor as well as add exceptions in various majors, particularly in the area of fine arts. For instance, if a student takes an independent study or a different class that has been approved to count for a particular major requirement, the updated DARS will be able to recognize this and give the student the proper credit.
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