Job Details
Aurora University (AU) is committed to the transformative power of learning by creating a student-centered environment and an equity of experience and opportunity, to ensure that students, faculty, and staff of all backgrounds feel welcome and included. Our culture of collaboration, generosity, and belonging make it a special place for students, faculty, and staff.
AU is grounded in the transformative opportunity it provides to a diverse student body. As a private university with a public mission and a commitment to making a difference in peoples’ lives, AU has a long history of resilience and of providing access to an education that values innovation, focuses on continuous improvement, and has a positive impact on the communities we serve. We are proud of our service to and economic impact on the state of Illinois, where over 80% of our students stay to live and work, where 90% of our students come from, and where we foster strong community partnerships to develop the workforce in areas such as nursing, education, business, technology, and social work.
We are looking for passionate and purposeful individuals who represent the full diversity of Aurora and who demonstrate a sensitivity to and understanding of the diverse academic, socioeconomic, cultural, ability, identity, and ethnic backgrounds present in our community. When you join the team at AU, you can expect to be part of an inclusive, innovative, and equity-focused community that approaches higher education as a matter of social justice requiring broad collaboration among faculty, staff, students, and community partners.
At AU we believe that continuous learning is a fundamental part of working life, and our goal is for all colleagues on our campus to feel supported and equipped to realize their full potential. We actively support our community by providing all employees with opportunities to engage in professional development activities, as well as a range of tuition and employee benefits that can be found here.
Position Purpose
All correspondence relating to the position of Assistant Vice Provost and Registrar at Aurora University should be directed in confidence to the University’s executive search consultant:
Christopher Healy, President
Scott Healy & Associates
chris@scotthealy.com
A complete application should include:
- Cover letter outlining your interest and qualifications for the position.
- Updated curriculum vitae (CV).
- Contact information for three (3) professional references with title, institutional affiliation, email address, and direct phone number. (No references will be contacted without written permission from the candidate.)
Applications received by June 12, 2026, will receive priority consideration. The search will remain open until the position is filled.
You can view the full position profile here.
The Assistant Vice Provost and Registrar provides visionary leadership to advance the Office of the Registrar as a modern, strategic partner in delivering student success and institutional effectiveness. This role requires an agile, collaborative, forward-thinking leader who can align registrar operations with Aurora University’s mission, integrate emerging technologies into systems and services, and ensure that academic infrastructure evolves to meet the needs of a growing and increasingly diverse student population. The Assistant Vice Provost and Registrar will balance daily operational demands with the ability to align existing and new resources toward an empowered team, an exceptional student experience, and a registrar function recognized as a campus-wide model of excellence. This position requires a high degree of adaptability and the ability to lead effectively with sound judgment in a rapidly changing higher education environment.
Core Competencies:
- Represents Aurora University in the most positive manner with prospective, former, and current students, clients, suppliers, and the community we serve. Interacts effectively with a diverse group of faculty, staff, students, and other customers of our service; learns and uses operating practices of the department and Aurora University.
- Upholds the Mission Statement: At Aurora University, our singular goal is to empower students to achieve lasting personal and professional success. We do this by being an inclusive community dedicated to the transformative power of learning. As a teaching-centered institution, we encourage undergraduate and graduate students to discover what it takes to build meaningful and purposeful lives.
- Mission Alignment & Strategic Vision: Aligns registrar operations, policy, and innovation with the University’s strategic plan and “AUnity” pillars, advancing AU’s commitment to access, affordability, and student success across all populations and modalities.
- Agility & Innovation: Demonstrates entrepreneurial thinking and a strong bias toward continuous improvement. Adapts rapidly to changing institutional priorities and regulatory landscapes, approaching challenges with creative problem-solving and a willingness to challenge the status quo.
- Technology Leadership: Serves as a catalyst for integrating emerging technologies—including AI tools, data analytics platforms, and student information systems—to enhance service delivery, accuracy, and efficiency. Champions proactive scheduling tools such as Coursedog to optimize course availability across online, hybrid, and in-person modalities.
- Collaborative Excellence: Works effectively across institutional boundaries with faculty, academic leadership, Admissions, IT, Advising, and student-facing offices. Builds consensus, fosters transparency, and ensures registrar expertise informs university-wide decisions.
- People & Culture: Leads with empathy, inclusion, and intellectual curiosity, fostering a team culture that values collaboration, accountability, diversity of thought, and shared success.
- Integrity & Confidentiality: Serves as the institution’s steward of academic record integrity and student data privacy. Maintains exemplary ethical standards and models a culture of compliance, accuracy, and trust.
Essential Job Functions:
Organizational Leadership & Development:
- Provide strategic leadership, supervision, and professional development of a high-performing team focused on service excellence, compliance, and innovation.
- Foster a culture of continuous improvement, accountability, belonging, and professional growth within the OtR.
- Manage the OtR budget and ensure responsible stewardship of institutional resources.
- Communicate proactively with the campus community regarding registrar processes, policies, and services.
- Represent Aurora University in relevant professional organizations; remain current on emerging trends and best practices in the registrar profession.
Student Records & Registration Operations:
- Oversee the accurate maintenance and integrity of academic records for current and former students.
- Ensure efficient and accessible registration processes that minimize exceptions and reduce administrative friction for students.
- Manage key operational processes including grading, transcripts, enrollment and degree verification, academic standing, honors, and degree conferral.
- Oversee petitions, withdrawals, leaves of absence, and degree exceptions with a focus on consistency and student experience.
- Direct transfer credit evaluation processes and maintain course equivalencies within the Transfer Evaluation System (TES).
Strategic Scheduling & Modality Management:
- Lead proactive, data-informed course scheduling practices that anticipate student demand and optimize the availability of online, hybrid, and in-person course offerings across undergraduate and graduate programs.
- Partner with academic leadership to ensure scheduling decisions support student progression, reduce time-to-degree, and align with the University’s hybrid campus vision.
- Leverage scheduling and curriculum management platforms—including Coursedog—to improve efficiency, transparency, and alignment between curriculum governance and course delivery.
- Analyze scheduling patterns and enrollment data to identify gaps, optimize capacity, and improve access for diverse learner populations including working professionals and non-traditional students.
Compliance & Regulatory Oversight:
- Serve as the University’s FERPA Compliance Officer; provide training and guidance to faculty and staff on FERPA and academic policies.
- Ensure compliance with federal, state, and institutional regulations.
- Certify academic eligibility for student-athletes and support reporting requirements for external agencies.
- Serve as the institutional contact for compliance matters including subpoenas and Solomon Amendment requests.
- Develop and maintain the academic calendar in alignment with accreditation and regulatory requirements.
- Oversee timely and accurate reporting to external entities, including the National Student Clearinghouse.
Curriculum, Policy & Governance:
- Serve as an ex officio member of the University Senate and relevant governance committees.
- Partner with academic leadership to support curriculum development, implementation, and governance processes.
- Provide guidance on academic policy interpretation and recommend enhancements that support innovation and student success.
Data Stewardship & Reporting:
- Serve as a key institutional data steward, ensuring the accuracy, integrity, and accessibility of student and academic data.
- Own and define key performance indicators (KPIs) for registrar operations.
- Develop and deliver standard and ad hoc reports related to enrollment, registration, and student progression to inform institutional decision-making.
- Partner with Institutional Research by providing validated data and operational insight; identify trends and provide actionable recommendations to leadership.
Technology & Systems Leadership:
- Serve as the functional owner of systems supporting student records, registration, scheduling, and curriculum management.
- Identify opportunities to enhance systems through technology; develop business cases for new solutions and lead cross-functional implementation efforts.
- Evaluate and implement emerging technologies, including AI-enabled tools, to advance service delivery and institutional effectiveness.
- Manage relationships with external vendors and platforms including Ellucian Colleague, Coursedog, Parchment, CollegeSource, and the National Student Clearinghouse.
Essential Job Requirements:
Education:
- Bachelor’s degree required; Master’s degree preferred.
Experience:
- Minimum of five (5) years of progressive experience in registrar operations, student services, or enrollment management in higher education.
- Minimum of three (3) years of leadership experience with broad administrative responsibility.
- Experience with student information systems; Ellucian Colleague SaaS strongly preferred.
- Experience with scheduling and curriculum management platforms; Coursedog or comparable system preferred.
- Experience driving business requirements and working with technical teams to implement and integrate new technology and enhance existing tools.
- Experience in an HSI, MSI, or diverse institutional setting preferred.
Skills:
- Strategic Thinking & Execution: Ability to partner across the organization to align administrative practices with institutional priorities while executing with operational excellence.
- Academic & Regulatory Expertise: Deep knowledge of academic policies, FERPA compliance, and registrar best practices, with the ability to translate regulatory requirements into clear institutional guidance.
- Data & Systems Acumen: Demonstrated ability to manage complex student information systems and leverage data for decision-making, reporting, and continuous improvement.
- Technology Vision: Ability to identify, evaluate, and champion emerging tools—including scheduling platforms such as Coursedog—that advance service delivery and institutional effectiveness.
- Communication & Influence: Ability to communicate complex information clearly and build consensus across diverse stakeholders including faculty, academic leadership, and students.
- Operational Agility: Tolerance for ambiguity in a rapidly changing environment. Ability to balance daily operations with a forward-looking orientation toward innovation, process improvement, and service excellence.
Physical Requirements:
- Ability to work at a computer for extended periods.
- Ability to move around campus and attend meetings as needed
Work Hours: Full-time, 12-month position. Flexibility required to meet operational and institutional needs.
The pay range referenced in the job posting is the budgeted amount the university reasonably expects to pay for this position. The final pay rate will not be below the lowest pay rate listed herein.
Benefit-eligible positions offer excellent benefits including health, dental, life, vision, long term disability, a 403(b) retirement plan through TIAA, and tuition remission.
Aurora University is an Equal Opportunity Employer.
Organization
Working at Aurora University
Aurora University (AU) is an inclusive community dedicated to the transformative power of learning. It is committed to helping students discover what matters and build their life around it.
Academics
AU is a private, nonprofit, independent university accredited by the Higher Learning Commission. It offers more than 45 undergraduate majors — such as nursing, social work, business administration, criminal justice and psychology — and a wide variety of master’s and doctoral degrees that include social work and business administration. Degree programs are grounded in real-world experiences and are led by experienced, dedicated faculty members, nearly 140 of whom are full-time. The student/faculty ratio is 18:1.
Almost 6,000 undergraduate and graduate students take classes on two main campuses — Aurora University in Aurora, Illinois, and George Williams College in Williams Bay, Wisconsin — as well as the nearby Orchard Center in Aurora and the Woodstock Center in Woodstock, Illinois. Online classes are also available. The Aurora University campus is located 40 miles west of Chicago.
Athletics
AU has 24 NCAA Division III teams competing in the Northern Athletics Collegiate Conference, Midwest Lacrosse Conference, Midwest Women's Lacrosse Conference and Northern Collegiate Hockey Association. About 700 student-athletes compete in sports. AU has a rich history and tradition of success across the spectrum of sport offerings. From conference championships to NCAA Championship appearances to academic awards and community service, student-athletes and staff continue to bring excitement and a sense of pride to Aurora University and all of the Spartan fans across the country. At AU, we firmly believe that intercollegiate athletics should promote the character development of participants, enhance the integrity of higher education, and promote civility in society. Toward these ends, we strive to adhere to fundamental values such as respect, civility, honesty and responsibility. Student-athletes and staff are always expected to operate with the principles of sportsmanship and ethical conduct in mind.
A Brief History of Aurora University
Founded in 1893 in Mendota, Illinois, as Mendota Seminary, the institution soon changed its name to Mendota College. By 1911, it had outgrown its facilities and the following year changed its name to Aurora College and moved to Aurora, where its students could take advantage of a thriving business environment and easy access to Chicago. In 1985, Aurora College changed its name to Aurora University to better reflect the magnitude of its academic offerings. Seven years later, Aurora University and George Williams College traditions blended when the two institutions entered into an affiliation agreement that paved the way for a merger eight years later. In 2010, the Woodstock Center opened to meet the needs of students in McHenry County and surrounding communities.
Company info
Telephone: 630-892-6431
Location: 347 S. Gladstone Ave.
Aurora
Illinois
60506-4892
United States