In the first week of the spring semester, eight to 10 students a day used new tools from the registrar’s office to request course changes.
For his second year on the job, registrar Henri “Atticus” de Marcellus made a course matrix for students, like Tara Subramanian ’27, to easily see what courses are available and when. There are still some shortcomings for policy when popular courses have sudden openings, but since Dec. 20, 48 out 54 requests logged in the course change request form have been fulfilled.
“At first European History [class] was full and then after some time, there was space because someone probably switched out,” Subramanian said. “I had to keep checking [the matrix] until I saw that it was yellow.”
If the student’s preferred class is available and has spots in it, the transition is smooth.
“I just filled out the course request form and it was pretty easy and simple because [de Marcellus] made it pretty smooth,” Subramanian said.
Though most students have similar success stories, de Marcellus is still looking for improvement.
“One of things I learned last year, that I hope to be better at this year, is being in better communication with the students who have registered for classes that end up not going and helping them change their choices before I make the schedules,” de Marcellus said.
Though Subramanian changed due to subject matter, faculty changes account for some of the swaps in the English electives, specifically in A Walk Through Literature.
“One of the big reasons [for students to switch] English was that at the beginning of the year, [former English teacher] Evan Schnair left,” de Marcellus said. “He designated his spring Encountering Beauty class to be another section of A Walk Through Literature, so students were in a class that they had not necessarily chosen.”
Now that faculty names are listed with the class titles on the course matrix, students can easily see who teaches each elective, which influences how they choose their semester courses.
“At the same time, there were students who had studied with Audrey Dickenson last semester who had a great experience and saw this as an opportunity to take another class with her,” de Marcellus said.
Priority goes to students who need classes to fill graduation requirements, then factors like time of request, seniority and the bandwidth of classes to increase from 16 to 18 students determine when de Marcellus can fill the requests.
Under-registered courses, specifically in the science department, also inform how students fill their schedule.
“I’m really hoping that next year we can have more science electives. I think that, in the spring, there are only two options: Environmental Science… and Physics of Guitars. It would be great to have more science electives,” de Marcellus said.
Outside of the electives he provides in humanities, de Marcellus isn’t involved in which courses are offered.
“Right now, the department chairs are putting together the next version of the curriculum guide,” de Marcellus said. “Then, students register, and based on those numbers, we decide how many sections of each class to offer and whether to offer a section.”
De Marcellus can’t compromise on having electives above 18 students and is the one to tell students their preferred schedule doesn’t work out.
“I try to make it more transparent with the form, with the matrix,” de Marcellus said. “I’m generally appreciative of students’ patience, understanding and trust.”
