One could say Registrar Thomas Bickel is going to the birds after 11 years of regulating students' enrollment patterns, grades and distribution requirements.
Bickel, a mathematics professor as well as the registrar since 1987, leads an annual bird-watching trip each spring as part of the Hanover Conservation Council's yearly activities.
Although he admits to throwing out the old field glasses he used to keep in his desk, Bickel's office reflects his many professional and personal interests. Old Organization, Regulations, and Courses Books, Green Books and College Directories line the bookshelves, competing for space with computer and math texts.
As registrar, Bickel is responsible for student record-keeping, including monitoring student course enrollments and filling out enrollment and registration paperwork. His office also monitors students' Dartmouth Plans and distribution requirement fulfillments.
Bickel also sits on the Committee on Instruction and Committee on Curriculum.
Dave Gacioch '00, who serves with Bickel on the Committee on Instruction, said the registrar is an invaluable resource for information on curriculum issues and requirements.
"He provides the institutional memory of the Committee," Gacioch said.
When he became registrar, Bickel was already familiar with the College's course regulations -- he had been a mathematics professor at the College since 1967. Bickel still teaches one course a year, and said he hopes to return to teaching full-time before his retirement.
Bickel expects to be leaving the registrar position at some point in the future, but not this year, unlike many of the College's top administrators.
"I feel kind of like an outcast not leaving my job this year the way everyone else did," he said.
The registrar's office has many challenges in the near future, including implementing a new student record system. Bickel said he expects the new system to have "teething problems" in the beginning, but said students will eventually have the ability to access their grades, order transcripts and drop and add classes on-line.
Bickel has experience upgrading the accessibility of his office's computer system. In 1995, before the start of his third term as registrar, he took a sabbatical at University of California, Santa Cruz, where he worked toward putting Dartmouth's ORC on-line.
Bickel said there were both professional and environmental differences between the California university and Hanover. He commented on the difficulties the registrar at UCSC must have because the school uses evaluations instead of grades.
Bickel said, however, "it's nicer to walk outside there in the winter."
Walking outside is something dear to his heart. Originally from Detroit and a graduate of University of Michigan and Harvard, Bickel said he was a city-dweller until coming to Hanover.
However, the College's environment has brought a new love into his life-- bird watching.
In addition to leading a Hanover Conservation Council tour, Bickel has served as a regional coordinator for a state-wide breeding study conducted by the New Hampshire Audubon Society. The study took five summers and utilized the volunteer efforts of hundreds of people.
Bickel said his wife shares his love for the outdoors, albeit as a gardener. "When we walk together, she likes to look down and I like to look up," he said.
