ECURE 2004: Richard Rainsberger

Bio

Richard Rainsberger is a Consultant in Educational Records Privacy and the Family Educational Records and Privacy Act of 1974 (FERPA). He has been a professional college records administrator for 33 years at Franklin University, Governors State University, and Carnegie Mellon. During 26 of those years, Dr. Rainsberger has had direct responsibility for administering FERPA policy on his campus. Since 1986, he has conducted FERPA workshops at the annual meeting of AACRAO (American Association of Collegiate Registrars and Admissions Officers) and for the faculty and staffs of more than 20 colleges and universities. He has also presented papers or workshops on FERPA for the American Council on Education (ACE), National Association of College and University Attorneys (NACUA), National Association of Student Financial Aid Administrators (NASFAA), the American Association of Medical Colleges (AAMC), and state governmental representatives of Kentucky and Illinois.

In 1990, he was appointed chair of the AACRAO committee to revise the AACRAO FERPA Guide. Those efforts have resulted in the widely-acclaimed FERPA Guides of 1995, 1998, and 2001.

In 1997, he also published the AACRAO FERPA Guide for Secondary Education. His other current pursuits are evaluating states' open records laws in relation to FERPA, federal legislation on digital signatures, the impact of high technology initiatives on FERPA, and outsourcing. He regularly writes his "FERPA Doctor" column for two national professional publications.

Presentation Abstract

What do you as a higher eduation records administrator need to know about the Family Education Records and Privacy Act (FERPA) and university research records? Topics will include your legal responsibilities on: access to these records, releasing these records to other researchers or the public, handling subpoenas for these records, subjects' access to these records, states' open records laws, genealogical queries, and deceased students' records.