Elly Brenner
Assistant Dean for Records and Registration
Faculty Rank: Associate Professional Specialist
Elly Brenner is assistant dean for records and registration in the University of Notre Dame’s First Year of Studies (FYS) and holds the rank of associate professional specialist. Among other responsibilities, she oversees course registration for the incoming first-year class (approximately 2,000 students), plans and implements Welcome Weekend programming, and coordinates with various academic departments to ensure a diverse and comprehensive offering of courses is available for all first-year students, regardless of their stated academic intent.
Brenner joined the FYS faculty in 2003 as an academic advisor and has won the University’s Dockweiler Award for Excellence in Undergraduate Advising. Like all FYS deans, she continues to have a cohort of students for whom she serves as advisor.
Prior to her appointment as assistant dean, Brenner was director of the FYS Peer Advising Program and director of special projects and first-year intellectual initiatives. Her work in those roles included teaming with the Division of Student Affairs to integrate peer advising into each of Notre Dame’s undergraduate residence halls and leading a document management project that has drastically reduced paper use within FYS while enhancing efficiency. The latter, a collaboration with the Office of Information Technologies, was honored with a Presidential Team Irish Award.
Brenner earned her B.A. in sociology from Notre Dame and both an M.A. in public policy and administration and an M.S.W. with a clinical concentration from Ohio State University.