New Registrar Has Personality For the Job

By: Brandon Smith, The Whetstone

The registrar’s office has always been a small team of women.

Now, they have one more, and she’s the boss: Patricia Seunarine.

Seunarine was one of four siblings born in Summit, N.J., but spent her childhood in sunny Cupertino, Calif. She is the second oldest. She and her older brother “were the parents to our younger siblings,” she said.

California proved perfect for Seunarine love of swimming and water sports.

“Water was a big deal to me, I loved oceans, lakes, and pools,” she said. “As a kid, I loved water skiing, boating, and participating on the swim team.”

Seunarine always managed to make friends.

“Despite running track in High School, I was fairly quiet but managed to get along with everyone. I was never excluded from a group,” she said.

After high school, Seunarine attended Rutgers as a Psychology major. While she attended college, she worked numerous jobs, including cleaning law offices, as a life guard and one as a file clerk.

After she graduated with a B.A. in Psychology, Seunarine found a job researching the success rate of educational programs for students.

While she worked as a researcher, Seunarine husband became ill with Stills Disease, which affects the joints.

“When my husband became ill I changed my path,” she said, and she got a job as a registrar at Drew University.

“Drew was close to home and he needed to see doctors,” she said. “I needed to be there for him more than often.”

Seunarine said she made a big difference at Drew.

“I turned Drew University around and I was a part of the success in the registrar’s office,” Seunarine said.  “I discovered some strengths I never had going into the registrars field.”

After six years at Drew, she was hired at Ellucian as a program analyst.

With Ellucian she had the luxury of working at home in her own office, but as time passed by she realized her talents were better showcased in a school setting.

“Ellucian and the registrar are two different things,” she said. “I realized I wanted to work face to face with real people on a campus.”

She said she looked up schools and Wesley stood out.

“My husband and I wanted to move out of New Jersey and knew we wanted to live in Delaware,” she said.

Seunarine said she’s all about improving the accuracy of Wesley’s student records.

“I noticed right away that Wesley was growing in technology,” she said. “Improving numbers defines my personality.’

The committee that searched for a new registrar was impressed with Seunarine credentials.

“We had a number of good candidates but she stood out the most,” said special projects coordinator Francis Riddle, who was on the committee. “We were impressed with her technical background and her personality matched with the registrar staff.”

Riddle said the registrar has a tough job.

“It’s a place where saying no is extremely tough but we believe Patricia Seunarine will help,” she said.

Registrar co-workers Carole Carpenter and Shelby Everline said they were happy with the choice.

“She’s very welcoming, she’s very professional and we are very pleased,” Carpenter said.

“All of my encounters with her have been very positive and she is a fresh set of eyes,” Everline said.

Seunarine’s job consists of monitoring student records and its accuracy.

Riddle believes that a smoother transition equals a better process.

“The combination of extra hands and technological knowledge will help bring us more into the 21st century,” she said.

Seunarine said she already feels at home.

“The people here are great and the campus is wonderful,” she said. “I plan to make technology at Wesley reach its potential. I am happier now more than ever.”