Since the beginning of this semester, the Office of Student Life has been without an assistant director.

Tiffany Bellafant left the department Aug. 6, to head for New Jersey. According to the office, Bellafant had to leave for personal reasons.

“It came as a complete surprise,” said Administrative Secretary Julie Bridewell.

Bellafant’s position of assistant director encompassed many responsibilities. She helped oversee all student organizations and also acted as the Greek Life consultant.

The Office of Student Life has not yet appointed a new assistant director.

“Now there is a vacant spot,” said Betty Mulkey, director of Student Life.

The job opening was posted on Northern Kentucky University’s Web site. According to Bridewell, nearly 50 applicants applied for the position, which has a(n) annual/yearly salary of approximately $30,000. The post has since been pulled off the Web site.

Recently, there were three applicants scheduled to be interviewed Aug. 27. Two did not show up, as they had accepted positions elsewhere. One candidate did interview, but at press time, the position remained open.

According to Bridewell, there are several steps in the process of hiring a new assistant director. First, the Office of Student Life staff has a discussion about the prospective candidate. Then, the candidate has to appeal to the director of Student Life, the dean of students and the vice president of student affairs.

The only way the staff could buffer the vacancy was to break the position into smaller categories and delegate the responsibilities to the remaining staff.

“Since we are searching for a replacement in the middle of fall, when most people have already accepted positions by the beginning of the semester, finding good enough candidates will be more difficult,” said Tiffany Mayse, leadership development coordinator.

“We want to explore as many options as we can, so that we can find the best personality that would best serve our students.”