News Photo by Julie Goldberg Sheila Rupp, the new registrar at Alpena Community College, sits in her office on Monday.

ALPENA — Sheila Rupp is helping Alpena Community College students with their academic records and keeping them on track to graduation.

Rupp is the new registrar for the college after three years as the registrar at Northwestern Michigan College in Traverse City and six years as the registrar at Kettering University in Flint.

Rupp said she was interested in the job because she wanted to be closer to family.

“I’ve been in records and registration and higher education for about 13, 14 years now,” Rupp said. “I love that kind of work, and that’s also what brought me here.”

ACC President Don MacMaster said Rupp comes to the college with a lot of past experience as a registrar.

“She wants to be at ACC and will do a great job,” MacMaster said.

As the registrar, Rupp will maintain all student academic records, grade recording, maintaining academic policies, ensuring tools are in place so students can register for classes, and serve on different committees.

“The main thing we do is maintaining the integrity of the academic records and ensuring the privacy,” Rupp said. “If a student runs into an issue with a policy that they feel like an exception should be made or they want just something a little out of the ordinary, or they’re just having trouble registering, I jump right in with the staff.”

Having a good relationship with faculty is important to Rupp because she said there’s a direct relationship with grade processing, registration, and advising.

“I’m very much looking forward to building some positive working relationships with students, faculty, and staff,” Rupp said.

Rupp replaces Lori Dziesinski, who is retiring on Jan. 1 after 42 years with the college. Dziesinski is helping Rupp with the transition.

MacMaster said Rupp has big shoes to fill, but said the transition should go smoothly.

“I’m very happy to be here and, so far — this is week three — everything’s going well and I’m just looking forward to building relationships here and enjoying time with my family,” Rupp said.

Julie Goldberg can be reached at 989-358-5688 or jgoldberg@thealpenanews.com. Follow her on Twitter @jkgoldberg12.