After quarter century at Tech, registrar to retire

After 25 years of service to Tech, five of them as the registrar, Jo McIver will retire on May 31. A search committee is underway to find a replacement registrar, although the position may fall to either of McIver ' s two associates.

" I ' ve just reached a point that I feel like it ' s time to do some other things in my life, " McIver said.

McIver has been employed at Tech since early 1981, when she accepted an assistant director position with the Registrar ' s Office.

A native of Atlanta, McIver said that she wanted to return to her hometown after spending several years working at other universities in the state.

" [This] was just an opportunity to give back to Atlanta, " she said.

McIver jumped at the chance to become an active member of the Tech community.

" When I was eight years old, I was coming to football games at Grant Field, " she said. " I have had season basketball tickets for 24 years . I live close to campus. I shop at the Kroger with the students. "

McIver moved up in rank over the years, becoming an assistant registrar and later an associate registrar. When the registrar position opened up five years ago, she decided to apply.

" I just decided, ' Why not? ' And so I applied, and they hired me, and I ' ve had five years as registrar, " she said. " I have to deal with a lot of problems, but then there ' s a lot of good things that we do. "

McIver cited graduation as one of the most significant accomplishments of the Registrar ' s Office. She said she considers each graduation ceremony to be one of the many highlights of her career.

" Everybody at Georgia Tech needs to go to graduation . because that ' s what we ' re all about, " she said. " To be on stage there and see everybody walk across . you feel you ' ve done a good job, " she added. " And I look out at the graduates and think about the potential that ' s sitting there in the Coliseum, and it ' s just amazing. "

McIver has also been witness to a lot of changes in registration procedures since the early 1980s. When she started, students used punch cards to set their schedules, which McIver said generated more than half a million cards for the fall term. That system eventually gave way to opscan forms and automated telephone systems, the predecessors to the online Banner system.

" Because our scheduling was so complicated, because . you ' ve got the labs and everything . we said, ' Well, why don ' t we just let them go online and do it? ' " McIver said.

Although the early version of Tech ' s online registration was driven by a command-line interface, " it was a wonderful program, and we did it probably for about five or six years before anybody at any other school, because they were terrified . ' Your students [are] going to break it. ' "

The advent of the internet also meant that the Registrar ' s Office was able to provide other information online, including term grades.

Many of these features came about when the office catered to demand from students, some of whom provided the code to implement the updates.

So what does McIver plan to do now with all of her newfound free time?

" Probably - and everybody says this - travel, " she said. An avid gardener, she also plans to enroll in a Master Gardener program, participate in volunteer work, and devote time to her granddaughter.

But she will always fondly remember her years at Tech.

" It has given me opportunities that I probably would not have had at other institutions, " McIver said.

" Just working with the Tech students, because they ' re so bright, they keep us on our toes, and that ' s fun. "