Catawba Goes All In: Unifying Systems to Streamline Operations and Elevate Student Success

The Challenge

Disjointed Scheduling Led to Course Conflicts and Student Barriers

Catawba College built its schedule without input from other departments, causing key classes to overlap and forcing students to choose between courses they needed. This not only made scheduling harder for departments but also made it tougher for students to stay on track. Catawba’s outdated scheduling process isolated departments, making it difficult for faculty to create schedules that best supported students.

“Our schedule building process was very siloed. No one looked at competing times or classes that were outside of their own academic division. This process was also very manual and time-consuming in an Ellucian product that wasn’t the most user-friendly for the average person. We can now use strategy with conflicts of class times and offerings that students need while empowering others on campus to leverage a tool that is very easy to use.” - Christine Lynn, Associate Dean, Ketner School of Business

Before Coursedog, planning ahead wasn’t an option—students often discovered too late that required courses weren’t available when they needed them. Advisors lacked clear visibility into future schedules making it difficult to guide students effectively, leaving them without a reliable path to graduation. Without a centralized system, departments were forced to react to scheduling demands instead of planning proactively, causing scheduling conflicts and last-minute adjustments. As a result, students faced unnecessary delays and uncertainty, making it harder to stay on track.

"Coursedog is helping us be more proactive and avoid situations where a student needs to graduate, but the course they need isn’t being offered this semester. Our administration can now plan their schedule more intellectually in advance. It’s so important that a student is able to see the upcoming schedule and know exactly what is being offered when they are being advised - we had so little of this ability before Coursedog.” - Chrisanne Rancati, Registrar

Endless Back-and-Forth Created Redundancy in the Registrar’s Office and Limited Departmental Control over the Scheduling Process

The scheduling process in the Registrar’s office relied on Excel spreadsheets and SharePoint, making it difficult to track room availability in real time. While department staff had better visibility into class schedules and room usage, the burden of scheduling remained solely on the Registrar’s Office. As a result, both administrators and faculty wasted valuable time on scheduling, instead of focusing on key initiatives or selecting the best rooms for classes.

"My office (the Registrar’s office) used Excel spreadsheets and SharePoint for scheduling. Someone would say, ‘I want this room.’ I would go in and look and the room's not available. So now I’m emailing them to say, ‘that room's not available, how about this room?’ And they write back and say, ‘that room really doesn't work for us. How about this room?’ Sometimes, my office would go back and forth by email up to 10-15 times. Now we've put that in their hands - they're able to decide what available room is going to work best for them in real time. And they have a little more control over the pieces that matter to them.” - Chrisanne Rancati, Registrar

Inaccessible Catalog Hindered Catawba’s Ability to Display Important Information to Students

Catawba’s previous catalog, a fragmented PDF that multiple people managed, failed to align with the school’s student information system. This inconsistency made it difficult to ensure accuracy and accessibility for current students. Recognizing the need for the Catalog to make an immediate and lasting impression for prospective students, Catawba sought a solution that would present their offerings in a clear, engaging, and reliable way.

"Our old catalog was a word document that we made into a PDF managed by five different people, so it never matched what was in our student information system. You never know where a student's going to land when they search for your school. So if they land on the catalog, you want that to grab their attention." - Chrisanne Rancati, Registrar

After implementing Coursedog, Catawba transformed its catalog into a dynamic and interactive recruitment tool. With a more polished and cohesive interface, they feel confident that their catalog accurately represents everything the school has to offer.

"Our catalog is much more polished and has become a recruitment tool rather than a dreaded long PDF. The interface is user-friendly, interactive and intuitive." - Christine Lynn, Associate Dean, Ketner School of Business

The Solution

Planning Schedules Semesters Ahead: Giving Faculty Greater Control Over Room Scheduling

With Coursedog’s Academic Scheduling, Catawba sets clear scheduling guidelines, ensuring faculty finalize their schedules in advance. By setting parameters around specific class times, the institution encourages faculty to secure their time slots and classroom space promptly, streamlining the scheduling process. Not only does this increase efficiency in the scheduling process, but also enables Catawba to finalize their schedule months in advance to help students and faculty plan more effectively.

“We are able to set rules around the utilization of the spaces. We set a percentage limit around class times to incentivize faculty to get their schedule in when it opens so they can get the times they want. This helps us plan in advance as well as empower the faculty to make their schedule with what makes sense to them and the students." - Chrisanne Rancati, Registrar

Coursedog equips faculty with the tools to build schedules that prioritize student success. Instead of rolling over previous schedules, faculty can now take a more intentional approach—ensuring that class times and room allocations align with student needs.

"It has empowered the faculty to think more intentionally about what they're offering and when they're offering it, rather than just rolling the prior semester or prior year schedule. Our previous process was very manual. We now empower one user in each academic division to load their classes rather than having a full-time Registrar's Office staff member completely build the class schedule off a spreadsheet." - Christine Lynn, Associate Dean, Ketner School of Business

The Registrar’s Office Evolves to Strategic Role

By streamlining academic scheduling, the Registrar’s Office shifts its focus to key institutional initiatives that directly impact student retention and graduation rates. With more time to dedicate to academic strategy the team can now take a proactive role in optimizing scheduling efficiency, improving room utilization, and addressing high DFW courses . This transformation enables them to provide stronger student support, ensuring they stay on track for on-time graduation  while enhancing their overall academic experience.

"Coursedog frees up additional time in the Registrar's Office to focus on academic operations and strategy for schedule efficiency, room usage, high DFW courses, and much more. It alters the perception of the Registrar's Office from continually processing a paperwork caseload to one that functions with a strategic mindset in supportive, proactive academic operations." - Christine Lynn, Associate Dean, Ketner School of Business

Looking Ahead

By eliminating administrative roadblocks, Catawba is making it easier for students to plan their courses, stay on track for graduation, and avoid scheduling conflicts—directly improving retention and student success.

"Using Coursedog has been a transformative experience at our institution. The platform has simplified class planning and turned our catalog into a polished recruitment asset. The user-friendly interface and responsive customer service stand out. Coursedog constantly updates the platform based on user feedback, showing their commitment to innovation and enhancing academic operations success. What really sets them apart is their constant innovation, always updating the platform with features based on feedback from both the industry and clients." -  Christine Lynn, Associate Dean, Ketner School of Business

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