As the 21st century thrives on, the University of Idaho is keeping up to date with paperless graduation requests.
The process is now entirely online — no longer will students have to walk across campus from their major’s office to their minor’s and back for a signature.
Nancy Krogh, university registrar, oversaw the implementation of the process.
“The previous program we were using was outdated and because of some upgrades to our system was in danger of breaking, and so we needed to do something,” Krogh said. “This was an opportunity to spend the time that was necessary to build a new application that made it paperless. Because we hear all the time that from students and faculty and staff that we want to go paperless when we can and it takes some time to build those systems, and was an opportunity to add one more paperless process to the queue and get it done.”
According to Krogh, the new system will make the application process smoother for everyone. When a student applies to graduate online, the information will be routed automatically to advisers.
“Part of it’s technology, part of it’s building and having people do the code, and set up the system, but most of it is talking to people across campus and making sure the new way of doing things works for everybody,” Krogh said.
Head of Fish and Wildlife Sciences and academic adviser Kerry Reese is unsurprised by the recent development.
“Everything’s going electronic,” Reese said. “Graduate students can submit their theses and dissertations now electronically, so it cuts down on the hard paper copies. Committees for graduate students — it’s all electronic. Admissions and applications can all be electronically handled … it seems like it’s just a natural evolution.”
Reese noted the new program, having been implemented this semester, is too new to really know how smoothly it runs. However, he believes as long as the program is treated as a process, and any potential kinks are worked out as they arise, it should be a positive, if minimal, change.
“I am trusting that students are mature adults, and they are going to do the paperwork they need to do, particularly when they’re seniors. Seniors have to take on some responsibility, themselves, to make sure that they’re doing things with timeliness and correctly so they can graduate without any problems.”
Hannah Shirley can be reached at [email protected]