NDSU registrar Rhonda Kitch has been elected vice president at large for the American Association of Collegiate Registrars and Admissions Officers. She will serve on the association’s board of directors.

The association, known as AACRAO, is a professional organization that includes more than 11,000 higher education professionals who represent approximately 2,600 institutions in more than 40 countries. Its mission is to provide professional development, guidelines and standards to be used by higher education officials regarding records management, admissions, enrollment management, administrative information technology and student services.

“I’m honored to join AACRAO’s board of directors and represent NDSU,” Kitch said. “During the next three years, I look forward to traveling to various state and regional organizations’ conferences on behalf of AACRAO as well as to the association’s conferences and board meetings. I will connect with members and serve as a liaison with the board. I am eager to communicate NDSU’s best practices with colleagues as well as to share what I learn with NDSU.”

The organization’s board of directors consists of nine vice presidents and the president-elect, president and past president.

AACRAO’s history is traced back to NDSU. In 1910, North Dakota Agricultural College’s registrar Alfred H. Parrott contacted other colleagues to network and discuss the functions of their institutions. He is credited as the founder of the organization and was the association’s first president.

Kitch, who joined the NDSU staff in 1999, earned her bachelor’s degree in elementary education from Minot State University, her master’s degree in counseling and student affairs from Minnesota State University Moorhead and her doctorate in education from NDSU.

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