Meet the Registrar
For a long period before actually starting their studies, incoming students rely on the Admissions Office for all sorts of services and information. Gradually, though, the primary contact shifts. Even before a new student arrives on campus, the best source of information becomes the Registrar’s Office. While we may know the answer to questions such as, “Will an advisor be assigned to me?”, it is the Registrar’s Office that actually makes the assignment. Here, our neighbors from across the hall introduce themselves.
Ann Marie Decembrele writes: I am fortunate to be a member of a four-person office that boasts a combined tenure of over 50 years of service to Fletcher students. With all of that time amassed in the Registrar’s Office, it’s hard to imagine that there could be a question we hadn’t heard before, or a problem we hadn’t faced. But every year brings new students, new questions, and new challenges, and I guess this is at the heart of what has kept me here all these years. I enjoy helping students.
In my role as Associate Registrar, I spend much of my time answering questions and advising students on how they can best achieve their academic goals, and meet their degree requirements along the way. Fletcher students tend to be a creative group, so there are always new and different scenarios to ponder and pursue. When I’m not meeting with students, I oversee the administration of the Foreign Language Proficiency requirement; coordinate the work of our Committee on Student Academic Programs; review students’ Academic Plan of Study; and organize written and oral comprehensive exams for our PhD students. Fortunately, in the course of busy days that tend to fly by without a minute to spare, I also manage to squeeze in a few minutes with the colleagues and friends that I have been so fortunate to work with these past 18 years.
Carol Murphy shares a long tenure with Ann Marie: I have worked in the Fletcher Registrar’s Office for 17 years, and as the International Student Advisor since 2000. I have enjoyed working with students over the years, and have particularly enjoyed my work with our international students. In a few weeks our office will become even busier and more hectic than it is over the rest of the year, due to graduation and, for me, the new international students who will need to process student visas. We feel busy every day of the year, but somehow we manage to pack even more into each day in the spring.
(I should also note here that Ann Marie and Carol are both “Jumbo Parents,” meaning that they each have a child who is a Tufts alum!)
The short-timer for the office is Kelly DiChiara: I have been working as the Registrar Assistant at Fletcher since July 2007, and I have really enjoyed my time here. I am the first person visitors see when they come into the Registrar’s Office, and I do my best to answer any questions that arise. Graduate school is an important part of a person’s life, and I take pride in helping to make Fletcher a positive experience for our students.
And, finally, the Registrar herself, Nora Moser McMillan writes: I am one of a few folks at The Fletcher School who worked here for a few years, left, and returned. For me, the motivation for returning was, in large part, because I really believe in the mission of the School and I enjoy working with the students (and staff and faculty). I had left to figure out what I wanted to do in my career, and found myself for two years in a rural fishing village in Northern Japan, trying to teach English and promote internationalization. While there, I confirmed that I wanted a career in higher education administration, and headed off to graduate school at the end of my contract. Two years after returning from Japan, a position opened up at Fletcher. I jumped at the opportunity and have never looked back. Working at Fletcher has broadened my view of the world, and it certainly encourages me to see more of the world than I may have, if I had worked someplace else. Understanding different cultures is now a theme at my home as my husband and I have recently returned from Vietnam, where we adopted our son.