The University Registrar’s Office lost its two top staffers in December, slowing down major declarations right before fall registration.
However, potential replacements have already applied, said the Interim Registrar Fred Rodriguez.
The former registrar and former associate registrar left their positions in December, Rodriguez said. He took up his position at Washington and Lee in January after previously serving as University Registrar at Trinity University.
Former University Registrar Kim Robinson has stayed working in the office in a supporting role to help throughout the transition. The associate registrar position has been filled, and the new candidate will begin on April 1. The search for the next university registrar is in progress and includes a promising pool of applicants, Rodriguez said.
Robin Grivetti, the administrative assistant for journalism and mass communications, formerly worked in registrar’s offices at other universities and said she “understand[s] how difficult it is in that office, even when it’s fully staffed.”
But she’s frustrated by the delays that the lack of staffing is causing.
As the administrative assistant, Grivetti reserves seats for majors and minors in the department to ensure that they can take the necessary classes, she said. She is attempting to prepare the course offerings for fall registration but has not received the list of newly declared majors and minors in the department.
Sophomores’ major declaration deadline was Feb. 9. The departments normally receive their lists of majors and minors within a week or two, Grivetti said. The Registrar’s Office told Grivetti they will send her the list by March 25, which is the first day of fall registration.
“I won’t know until right before registration how many classes I should set aside,” Grivetti said.
The delayed major and minor processing also affects the internship program, Grivetti said.
Without the list of majors and minors, the internship coordinator is unable to contact them about internship opportunities.
“If we don’t get them in this summer to do an internship as a rising junior, then they’re going to have to do it next year as a rising senior, or even during their senior year,” Grivetti said. “They can’t graduate without it.”
Students are also frustrated by the delayed processing of major declarations.
Maddy Hayes, ’26, declared a neuroscience major at the beginning of February and was hoping to register for a spring term course that only accepted neuroscience majors, she said. Since the declaration had not been entered into Workday, she was unable to register for the course.
Rodriguez recognizes that processing is taking longer, he said.
“Workloads have definitely increased and the current staff is pressed, but while some things are taking a bit longer to get done, they’re getting done,” Rodriguez said.
Although there are some struggles in the registrar’s office right now, they are on track to being fully staffed soon, Rodriguez said.
In addition to filling the associate registrar position and searching for the next university registrar, they are working on filling the students records specialist position.
An effective search for a new university registrar takes some time, Rodriguez said. The university opted to bring in an experienced registrar to guide the office until a new permanent registrar is hired.
“You can’t cut corners, and you can’t make it faster,” Grivetti said.
Throughout the difficulties, the university registrar’s staff has not given up, Rodriguez said.
“They have been through huge changes over the past two years – involving personnel, technology and completely different ways of doing business – and they continue to rise to the challenges,” Rodriguez said.
