A look at the Registrar

“One or more holds became active on your student account today. Please recognize that most holds will prevent you from registering for courses and some will prevent you from ordering a transcript or graduating.”

Chances are you’ve likely received this email from a school email account simply called “BYU-Idaho Registrar”. Every three months it demands you update your insurance info or your ecclesiastical endorsement. But what is the Registrar? A person? An office? Or something entirely different?

It’s simple — The Registrar, Lauri Arensmeyer, is the person in charge of running the Student Records and Registration office. Under the direction of the Registrar, the Office covers the recording, security, and maintenance of all student records. It also handles everything from health insurance to transcripts.

The Student Records and Registration Office works closely with Academic Advising to determine what majors and programs to offer students in order to allow them to graduate with a degree that will enable students to find worthwhile careers. To illustrate this, Arensmeyer said that in the past, the school offered degrees like bookkeeping, but in today’s job market those kinds of degrees are obsolete. Academic Advising incorporates and makes available degrees that will enable students to find worthwhile careers after graduation.

“We want to make sure our students can make a difference in their communities,” said Arensmeyer.

The Student Records and Registration Office’s mission is to record the students’ academic experience and maintain the integrity of the academic system. However, Arensmeyer has a personal goal of taking it a step further and be “invisible but accessible to all students,” wishing to have the office functioning at levels where students wouldn’t ever have to think about the office or go to them with problems. This feeling comes from a desire to allow students to “focus solely on their academic and spiritual growth.”

The office can be reached during regular business hours by calling 208-496-1411, emailing registrar@byui.edu or going to the Spencer W. Kimball Administrative Building, Suite 190.