Iowa State officials have named three finalists for the vacant registrar position.

The finalists are: Kathleen Jones, associate registrar at ISU; Ray Popsil, registrar at the University of South Dakota; and Wade Robinson, director of academic records and registration at the University of Nebraska.

“We’re bringing three people onto campus for interviews. We hope to have these interviews finished by Sept. 13 and have an offer prepared shortly after that,” said Tom Thielen, vice president of student affairs.

“The decision on the new registrar should be made some time in mid to late September. Our goal is to have the person decided on by October and have the person here by late October or early November at the latest.”

The new registrar will replace John Sjoblom, who served as registrar for 29 years. He or she will likely make about $70,000.

The office is currently being filled by Interim Registrar Herman Richtsmeier.

Duties of the registrar include maintaining records for current and former students, evaluating the graduation status of students, coordinating commencement ceremonies, transmitting information about student enrollment and academic records to appropriate offices and registering students for their courses.

“This is a very important position and we want to do this selection in a timely fashion, but still make the best decision possible,” Thielen said.

Jones first joined the Registrar’s Office in 1972 and has held several positions since. She has been the associate registrar for systems and records at Iowa State since 1995. She was the associate registrar for scheduling from 1987-95. Jones also held the position of assistant registrar from 1976-87.

She holds several degrees from ISU, including a bachelor’s in mathematics and a master’s in professional studies in education. She is a candidate for a doctorate in professional studies in education.

Jones also worked to create the touch tone registration process. She did not program it, but she contributed to the design of the system and the publicity for it.

Jones said she is ready and capable of performing the duties of the registrar for ISU.

“I’ve worked in this office for 24 years. I love the kinds of service we provide to the students and actually providing improvements to those services.

Popsil, prior to becoming the registrar at South Dakota, was the associate director for registration at Virginia Commonwealth University.

Robinson has been director of academic records and registration at Nebraska since 1994.