Senior Deputy Registrar Eileen Quinn will serve as Interim Registrar for the Faculty of Arts and Sciences next semester.

University Registrar Jill Carlton will retire Jan. 3 after working at Yale for 27 years. Quinn said Carlton’s shoes are impossible to fill, but she wants to be a “good steward” for the office until a new registrar arrives.

“I hope to make the transition as seamless as possible for the students, faculty and staff, and to work with the staff in the registrar’s office to make our service is as accurate and responsive as we can,” she said.

Ernst Huff, associate vice president for student financial and administrative services, said Quinn brings a unique combination of experience with her law degree and her time as an administrator. Quinn has taught law courses and worked at the Connecticut Appellate Court, and she has held positions at Yale Law School and in the Provost’s Office. Before joining the registrar’s office last year, she was the senior director of academic affairs at New York Law School.

Huff said it is too early to tell who the candidates will be for the permanent position, and he is still finalizing the job description. He added that Yale Human Resources is talking with several search firms, and he hopes a contract will be signed before administrators leave for winter break Dec. 21.

“We want somebody with several years of experience in a registrar’s office with progressively important positions in a complex university,” he said.

Huff said he does not expect to have a new registrar for at least six months because most worthy applicants would not likely leave their current positions until the end of the spring semester.

Carlton came to Yale in 1984 as a senior programmer analyst to design a computerized record-keeping system for the Graduate School, which used her system until 1998. She also played key roles in developing Online Course Registration (OCS), Online Course Information (OCI) and the Faculty Student Advising System.