William DeWolf

Bill DeWolf is a highly respected national leader and practitioner in all aspects of registrar work and student information systems. He has demonstrated expertise at both four-year public and four-year private institutions. Bill was, also, the University Registrar at the former Medical College of Pennsylvania – Hahnemann University with experience of merging two distinct medical schools into the largest medical school in the US. Bill’s experience in implementing Ellucian Banner student information systems at two different four-year private colleges has been viewed by their leaders as being key to mission-critical success at those institutions. In addition, Bill is an expert with Ellucian’s Degree Works software module to track student progress toward degree objectives and to facilitate regulatory reporting requirements. He is passionate about registrar business processes, student administrative services (one-stop-environments), international programs (ACE Internationalization & Globalization at Emerson College, legal issues in higher education (particularly compliance issues including FERPA and NSLDS), competency-based programs, strategic vision as it relates to and in the registrar’s office, and public policy. Bill was an active member of the American Association of Collegiate Registrars and Admission Officers (AACRAO), New England ACRAO, and New England Banner User Group (NEBUG) during his tenure, and was associated with Middle States ACROA and Massachusetts ACRAO. He has served in numerous leadership roles and chaired committees for Professional Development (AACRAO, NEACRAO and MACRAO), Nominations & Elections Committee (NEACRAO), and made numerous presentations at AACRAO’s Annual Meetings, NEACRAO and MSACROA conferences on topics ranging from advice for new or transitioning registrars, one-stop-environments and online submission of grades, and public policy agenda. In 2010, AACRAO inaugurated the Public Policy Advisory Committee and asked Bill to become the chair. He served in that capacity until 2015 but remained on the committee. In 2015, the American Association of Collegiate Registrars and Admission Officers awarded their highest recognition, the Thomas A. Bilger Citation for Service Award, to Bill at AACRAO’s Annual Meeting in Denver, Colorado. Bill is one of a handful of highly regarded professionals to have received such recognition from AACRAO. Billretired as the Registrar at Emerson College, Boston, MA he was the Emerson College representative to College Board. At Emerson, he was a member of the Banner Implementation Team, Degree Works, Data Security Coordination Team, Academic Planning & Policy Committee, Student Success sub-committee on Admission and Scholarship Selection Process and the Education Abroad & Overseas Exchange Sub-Committee – ACE Internationalization Laboratory. Bill holds Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees from the State University College at Buffalo and the Doctor of Philosophy degree in Higher Education Administration/Art Education Administration from The Florida State University, Tallahassee, Florida. He has also held tenure track positions at Radford University and Thiel College and administrative positions at Thiel College, Penn State University (Shenango Campus), The Medical College of Pennsylvania and Hahnemann University, and Albion College. Bill has two adult children – William, II, a medical doctor in Bradenton, FL and Angie, a principal ballet teacher and dancer with a ballet company in Boston. As a Consulting Director for focusEDU, Dr. DeWolf looks forward to providing his expertise, vision and wisdom in partnering with the leaders of the higher education community to improve and sustain optimized solutions in the areas of best practices for registrar and student information systems.