University of New Orleans registrar Kathleen Plante was the recipient of the Distinguished Service Award from the American Association of Collegiate Registrars and Admissions Officers (AACRAO). She accepted the award at the AACRAO’s 97th annual meeting last week in Seattle. The Distinguished Service Award recognizes an active or retired member for exceptional contributions to the profession in a volunteer capacity at the national level.
Plante has been a member of the AACRAO for more than three decades, and she has held nearly every role a member could take. She has presented regularly at annual meetings and served on multiple committees, acting as chair on several of them. Following Hurricane Katrina, she became a sought-after presenter on how to survive a disaster in the registrar’s office. At last year’s annual meeting in New Orleans, she was the co-chair of volunteers, in charge of recruiting volunteers and coordinating their activities. She also organized service projects to aid in the city’s rebuilding.
“(Kathy) is our role model for how the community of AACRAO works, how we welcome people into our cities and our profession, how we facilitate participation, how we grow the next generation, how we make a difference,” said AACRAO past president Stanley Henderson.