The University of Massachusetts has appointed a new registrar, set to begin Tuesday, Feb. 19.
After a successful national search, John Lenzi will succeed former registrar, Cecelia J. Trachy, who retired last year. Deputy Provost John Cunningham assumed the responsibilities while a committee searched for Trachy’s replacement.
The committee conducted a national search before appointing Lenzi, who comes to UMass from Columbia University in New York. Provost and Senior Vice Chancellor for Academic Affairs Charlena Seymour announced the decision.
In a statement to the UMass News Office, Seymour said “John Lenzi brings decades of experience and strong skills to this key administrative post here at UMass-Amherst. We look forward to having him join the University community.”
“I am very excited about my appointment,” Lenzi said. “The registrar position at UMass-Amherst represents a unique opportunity for relationship building with students, faculty and administrators to help integrate their goals and make the best of their UMass-Amherst experience.”
“We want to bring a strong, qualified candidate,” said Ed Blaguszewski, director of the Office of News and Information at the University, describing Lenzi as “someone who rose to the top in a national search.”
“The registrar has a variety of responsibilities,” Blaguszewski said. The registrar traditionally handles scheduling, maintains student records, issues grade reports and mails out official publications. He said he thought Lenzi’s background in IT would be helpful as registrar.
Lenzi worked as the chief academic records officer and University registrar at Columbia from 2001 to 2006. Since 2006 he has served as the assistant vice president in the IT division of the university. Lenzi started at Columbia in 1987. He has previously worked as the associate director in administrative information systems and as the manager of computer operations. He has a bachelor’s degree in anthropology from Columbia and a master’s in developmental psychology from the Teacher’s College at Columbia.
In addition to his work at Columbia, Lenzi was a member of Association of American Universities registrar’s group from 2004 to 2006. He worked as an adjunct instructor at Hunter College for two years. He has also been the vice president of the Martin and Mirash Ivanaj Foundation board since 1995.
Elizabeth Hawley can be reached at [email protected].
