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Main to be Finished on Schedule

Surprising as it is, Main Building will be finished on time, and classes will be held as scheduled beginning the week of registration.

Dr. Philip Koch, Asso- ciate Professor of Philosophy and Faculty Co-ordinator, has been working with stu- dent organizations such as the GEM for the last eigh- teen months. Says Professor Koch, “We’re hoping that the classrooms will be fin- ished by the middle cf next week. They are furiously working on them to finish up all the odd details.”

The second, third, and fourth floors of Main are almost completed, and as of August 22, people be- gan moving into approxi-

“matly sixty-five offices which have been finished. At the .

present time most of the de- partments that were moved out of Main building last year have returned, with the exception of the English De- partment, which will remain in Dalton Hall until the week after registration.

“The English Depart- ment feels that if they just stay where they are it will avoid a lot of confusion for

students during registration week”, says Koch. Although it is hard to say exactly when the first floor, basement; and English annex will be com- pleted, it should be before the beginning of classes.

The of- ficial opening of Main Build- ing, however, won’t be until sometime in October.

“We want to wait until a lot of the little details are

‘Campbell is new Registrar

By Derrick Webber

THE NEW registrar for UPEI is former English de- partment Chair Robert Campbell. Camp-

bell takes over from Michael ©

Hennessey, who retired this year after serving in the po- sition since UPEI was first founded. mer Liaison Officer Urbain Gaudet, who replaces Louise Gay as Assistant Registrar. For the six years before appointment as Registrar, Campbell has been Chair of the department of English.

Also new is for-—

He has taught at UPEI since it opened, focusing on Cana- dian Literature with a spe- cial interest in the literature of Atlantic Canada.

Campbell hopes his ex- perience at UPEI helps in new position. “I would hope that having taught for almost 25 years I would have some sense of the needs of faculty and students that I can ap- ply”, he said.

Having both Registrar and Assistant Registrar re- tire in the same year has made the transition more

= Thursday, September 1, 1988

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difficult, but Campbell said he is very impressed with how hard the office staff has worked to compensate. He said it also speaks well of the way Hennessey and Gay have developed office operations. As a result, Campbell said, registration has suffered any serious problems.

“IT think we’ve managed to keep up with our tasks”, he said.

As for changes, no revo- lutions are planned. Camp- bell plans to spend much of the first year of office just learning how things operate. He said one area he stongly would like to see improved is the front counter. At present it is very cramped for students and the glassed- in counter makes a bad im- pression. Campbell said it all requires careful planning, but he would like to see a much wider area with lower counter to provide better service.

One i area they will look at is the possi-

bility of increased computer- ization of the registraion pro- cess. Campbell said a study of the Registrar’s office was made in the spring and as a result they will be looking at how increased computeriza- tion may improve the service and efficiency.

Several larger universi- ties like Memorial University in Newfoundland have be- gun accepting registrations using computers hooked to phone lines. Students dial up using a touch-tone tele- phone to enter course se- lections. A computer voice guides the student through the procedure and lists filled courses and courses in which the student has enrolled suc- cessfully. Campbell said that UPEI may be too small to warrant such a system, but perhaps they may be able to set up simpler system stu- dents could dial to hear up- dated information on filled courses.

Still, Campbell is in no hurry to improve what he

fixed up”, he says.“There is still a lot of stuff to do, but there are a lot of guys work- ing on it right now.”

High spirits are evident in Main Building as the ren- ovations near completion.

Says Koch, “I’m tremen- dously pleased with the en- thusiasim that everyone has shown; the students, the fac- ulty, and the staff.”

says already provides good service.

“Pm very im- pressed with how hard peo- ple do work in the office to serve the people they have to serve,” he said, “I’m quite impressed with what they’re already doing.”

Campbell said one area which has improved registra- tion for first-year students at least is the Freshman Advise- ment Centre operated dur- ing the summer. This pro- gram, just completing its sec- ond year of operation, intro- duces frosh to the university, registration procedure, and provides some help in course selection. Campbell said this has reduced confusion among first-years.

As for registration this year, Campbell says they have no firm figures so early in the year, but it looks like UPEI will have “at least as many students as last year;”

Campbell officially took office July 1st for a term which should last at least 6 years.