Approximately one third
of Appalachian State University’s student body has not provided
the university with accurate local addresses.
Appalachian State obtains accurate local addresses
and phone numbers should the university need to contact a student.
This information is also used for the university’s telephone
directory and online directory, said Don R. Rankins, registrar and
Student Information Systems director.
“We have the same problem every semester,”
said Rankins.
Rankins sent e-mails and personal announcements
via AppalNET to 4,793 students last Tuesday, informing them their
address information was not updated.
Students who received these messages may update
their information online, using the “Student Services” link
from their AppalNET login, or they may contact the registrar’s
office, said Rankins.
“It is imperative that we have up-to-date
information,” said David W. Freeman, director of Student Publications.
Freeman coordinates the publication of Appalachian
State’s telephone directory. He said the block of missing student
information will force the directory to be printed incomplete.
Regardless of this problem, the telephone directory will be released
at its originally scheduled time, which is the week before fall break,
said Freeman.
Freeman said the university collected all the available student information,
sent the directory for data processing and then on to College Directory
Publishing Inc. in Pennsylvania for printing.
Freeman said he does not hold the registrar’s office responsible
for this problem.
Address information for freshmen is entered automatically, but returning
students are responsible for providing the university with their current
information, said Freeman.
If this problem persists, other actions may need to be taken to promote
the need for students to update their address information, said Freeman.
Students may not have provided updated address information because
of the lack of promotion for the new, online collecting method, implemented
by the registrar’s office this year, said Rankins.
The registrar’s office previously sent cards to students’
ASU Boxes, asking them to return the cards with their current address
information. They abandoned this process to the more efficient online
method.
In the last week, the registrar’s office received updated information
from over 800 students.
Students’ privacy need not be a concern when updating their address
information.
Out of the all the schools in the University of North Carolina system,
Appalachian State releases the smallest amount of student information,
said Rankins.
“The goal of the registrar’s office is the accurate collection
and protection of student information,” said Rankins.
Only a student’s ASU Box, e-mail address and telephone number
are available to the public. |
