Mar 31, 2013 2 min read

MORGANTOWN, W.Va.(AP) – West Virginia University has implemented record-keeping changes recommended by a consultant in the wake of a 2007 degree scandal.

These changes include creating a registrar position to oversee records and record-keeping policies, and designating one person at each college, school and academic department to oversee their unit’s record keeping.

The university hired the American Association of Collegiate Registrars and Admissions Officers to review its record-keeping following revelations that WVU improperly awarded a retroactive master’s degree to Heather Bresch, the daughter of former Gov. and now U.S. Sen. Joe Manchin, in October 2007.

“I think it was a very challenging set of recommendations to get in place and I think they’re in place and functioning well,” Senior Associate Provost Russ Dean told The Dominion Post.

“(I’d) put our system up against anybody’s,” he said.

Years ago, the university had a registrar but the position went away, Dean said. The Office of Admissions and Records handled records until Steve Robinson, a WVU graduate, was hired as registrar in May 2009.

Dean said the university probably did not pay enough attention to records after enrollment grew rapidly in the early 2000s, creating more work on the application side.

“We needed one unified, defined university registrar,” he said.

Dean said WVU was implementing many of the association’s recommendations before Robinson was hired.

Officials with the association recently visited the Morgantown campus to conduct a five-year check. A follow-up report is expected in four to six weeks.

Wayne Sigler, senior consultant and project director with the association, declined to make specific comments, saying it is premature. But he said they “found real progress.”

Robinson said WVU has made the transition to mostly electronic records. But some areas, such as academic advising, still have some paper reports.

Professors enter grades into an electronic program called Banner at the end of a semester. The association had recommended that the university use the Banner system to certify a student’s academic record and award a degree.

“There are still some paper records out there,” Robinson said. “But, they are all secondary to what’s in Banner.”

The association also recommended creating a computer-supported degree audit system. The university now uses a program called DegreeWorks as an audit for degree programs.