Former Director of Residence Life Richard DeCapua left his position at Brandeis last summer, and Associate Director of ResLife Dean Gendron and Associate Director for Operations and Assignments Jeremy Leiferman will serve as interim co-directors of ResLife, Dean of Student Life Rick Sawyer said.DeCapua came to Brandeis in summer 2006 and has left to become associate dean of students at Suffolk University in Boston. "I left because this was a tremendous opportunity that doesn't come around a whole lot," he said.

Sawyer said he hopes to have a new director in place by spring semester. "We're happy for him," Sawyer said. "It's not great opening without him but we have every belief that we will be able to replace him adequately."

He said that when the semester begins, the Office of Student Life will create a search committee and put out an updated job description in order to hire a new director.

The search committee will consist of staff members from the Department of Student Life, faculty members and a representative of the Student Life field from off-campus, Sawyer said. He added that he would seek student input from community advisors and through Student Union President Jason Gray '10 and provide opportunities for students and candidates to interact during campus visits.

Sawyer said the new director should have experience at a campus similar to Brandeis, as well as with renovations and construction.

He explained that finding a new director in the fall might not be easy because the hiring season is in the spring. "If the pool was not very good, we would consider stopping and restarting at the start of the second semester," he said.

Sawyer said departures such as DeCapua's could be anticipated "when you have a fairly young, career-focused staff" like that at Brandeis. "We like to promote when we can," he said. [DeCapua] had an opportunity that we certainly don't begrudge him to have taken advantage of."

DeCapua described his new position as similar to that of Brandeis Associate Deans for Student Life Maggie Balch and Jamele Adams.

Sawyer noted that during DeCapua's tenure at Brandeis, DeCapua added positions to help serve off-campus students, focused on CA training and helped establish new residential learning communities for this year's first-year class.

"I absolutely adored my two years at Brandeis," DeCapua said, adding that he is in communication with his former colleagues to make sure CA training is running smoothly.

DeCapua was involved in decisions about the look and design of the new Ridgewood Quad, Sawyer said. "He was very instrumental last fall when the construction was kind of torturous for the first semester."

Senator-at-Large Justin Sulsky '09, coordinator of the University's Residence Life Advisory Committee last year as Ziv Quad Senator, echoed that praise, noting that DeCapua had been director at a difficult time when the Ridgewood construction inconvenienced students.

"He and the department went above and beyond making things better for residents," Sulsky said, including organizing construction breakfasts for residents who lived near the construction area and offering free iPhones.

"I hated leaving actually because I enjoyed Brandeis so much," DeCapua said. He said his replacements were more than competent to fill his place. "The glimmer of release I had when I left is that the department is in good hands.