Changes abound in registrar’s office as it
smooths the road for student services

lhe North Vancouver campus of

Capilano College is a long ways
away from its registrar’s home and
native land. But Itidal Sadek says that
parts of Vancouver remind her of her
former residence and place of birth in
Alexandria, Egypt.

“It’s a beautiful city,” she says.
“There are places here that are very
similar to parts of Alexandria — the old
Alexandria, that is, the way it used to
be 40 years ago.”

Back in January 1973, Itidal did the
unthinkable. Right smack in the middle
of winter, she decided to trade the warm
Egyptian sand for the winter snow of
Quebec.

“The people at immigration kept
asking me if I was sure that’s what I
wanted to do,” she says. “My thought
was, ‘well, if I move there I’ll have to
experience winter anyway, so why not
now.’”

She obviously made the adjustment
because she stayed in la belle province
for 24 years, first working at Vanier
College as a faculty member,
department chair, then dean of Science.
After Vanier, Itidal went to Dawson
College, holding positions as dean of
Engineering Technology, campus
director, registrar and associate
academic dean. From there she joined
Marianopolis College in Montreal as
the college registrar. But her love of the
ocean compelled her to move west to
British Columbia in August 1997,
where she joined Capilano College as
registrar.

“I'd had enough of the politics in
Quebec,” she says, “plus, I missed the
water — sea water that is, so I decided
to move to Vancouver.”

Since her arrival on the North Shore,
Itidal has managed to implement some
very important and necessary changes
at the College.

“T see one of my major roles as
registrar as trying to make things easier
for the students,” she explains.

“Registration is a service
department, and we are here to serve
the College community — particularly
the students.”

A major new advancement in the
registration process was implemented
in January. “We changed the way
registration was done by making it
more automated,” Itidal says. “The
students now sit with one staff
member who does everything for

College
registrar, Itidal
Sadek, in her
office on the
second floor of
the Birch
building.

them, other than taking their money.

“T’ve eliminated the course
approval step, which is now done
when they register, and students don’t
have to follow signs to different
locations on campus to complete the
registration process. On average,
most students are through in 15 to 20
minutes.”

Itidal compliments the staff in
Computer Services, especially Mike
Freeman and Bob Walker, for
helping Registration with the
modification.

“We started seriously considering
the change at the beginning of last
December and three weeks later,
Computer Services had the new
system up and running.

“Computer Services have been
really good to work with,” she
continues. “They’ve made a
commitment to making changes and
they’ve done a great job. Steve
Gallagher has a wonderful crew —
and so do I.”

At present, the front line
employees in the registrar’s office
handle specific needs. However, Itidal
says she is in the process of having
them trained to handle all student
services initiated within that office.

“Rather than have one person do
one thing, they’l] soon be able to do

@nformer