After 11 years of service at The University of Tampa, Registrar Leslie Sutton-Smith will launch her new career July 23 as acting registrar for Harvard Law School.
In June 1996, Sutton-Smith became registrar at UT. She had been searching for jobs in Florida after her parents decided to retire in Sarasota. Sutton-Smith is originally from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania and received her degree from the University of Pennsylvania, where her daughter currently attends class.
After applying for the job at Harvard Law School in March 2007, Sutton-Smith made many trips back and forth to Cambridge for interviews. Upon receiving the news that she had gotten the job, she was ecstatic.
“I applied for it and I got it!” She said with a huge smile on her face. “It was a smaller school but a neat opportunity.”
According to Marie Bowen, Harvard’s Assistant Dean for Human Resources and manager of the panel that chose the new registrar, Sutton-Smith was chosen out of 70 qualified candidates from all over the country.
“She is fabulous, her experience demonstrated her ability to exceed in a Registrar role.” Bowen said.
Colleagues say Sutton-Smith’s great work at UT landed her at Harvard Law School.
In the 11 years with Sutton-Smith as UT’s registrar, enrollment more than quadrupled from 1400 students to nearly 5500 students. She implemented two online programs for students and faculty. She also worked around a computer conversion.
“It has been an amazing experience. I will definitely miss UT,” she said.
Sutton-Smith explained the thing she would miss the most would be the people at UT, her colleagues and the students that she enjoyed helping everyday.
The shift from UT’s liberal arts focus to a law school will change the way Sutton-Smith handles the various challenges of being a Registrar.
Her arrival comes just in time for a newly approved curriculum at the school. She will have to learn the new curriculum and read several American BAR Association Education Materials.
Most importantly for her she will have to learn her new clientele. She expects them to be more demanding and she is willing to meet their needs.
One of the many things that she learned at UT that will help her at Harvard is her ability to listen and understand students, a skill she picked up while working with student focus groups in the Spring 2007 semester.
Joseph Sclafani, Interim Dean of the College of Social Sciences, Math and Education saw the great work that Sutton-Smith achieved for the 11 years she worked as Registrar.
“She was key serving as a member of the curriculum committee, always making sure the schedules were correct and the right amount of credit hours were available.” Sclafani said.
Sclafani also commented that her role in upgrading to Spartan Web and utilizing the online services helped her get her new job because UT’s computer system and UT’s online capability surpass that of Harvard’s and they needed somebody like Leslie to bring them up to date.
Barbara Strickler, Vice President for Enrollment at UT, worked with Sutton-Smith and noted the dedication to her job and the University Sutton-Smith displayed on a daily basis. Strickler says Sutton-Smith will be missed and hard to replace.
“It has not always been as easy as Leslie made it look. The registrar’s office interacts in one way or another with just about everybody on campus.” Strickler said. “Leslie has been a great partner in making things happen. She was always in search of a “better way,” loyal and a good steward of university resources