Keenyn McFarlane, a financial officer who worked closely with students and clubs, will leave Brandeis at the end of November for a position as budget director at the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms in Washington D.C., he said Monday.McFarlane has been the assistant vice president and budget director for students and enrollment at Brandeis since June 2006. Before coming to Brandeis, he worked as finance director for the U.S. Attorney's office in Boston.

"I enjoyed working here," McFarlane said. "When you can interact with your mission.every day and really see it happening, it's a very rewarding experience."

McFarlane said the main focus of his work at Brandeis has been managing the budgets for offices concerned with the "student experience outside the classroom," including the Office of Admissions, Office of Student Life and the Athletics Department. In addition, he said he has worked closely with the Student Union and has overseen the distribution of the Student Activities Fee to campus clubs.

"I think the students here are just remarkably bright, very passionate about the things they believe in and very driven and focused," he said. "I definitely admire them."

Senior Vice President for Students and Enrollment Jean Eddy, McFarlane, Dean of Student Life Rick Sawyer, student representatives, directors from the Office of Students and Enrollment and administrators from the University's budget office are all involved in a search process for McFarlane's replacement, Eddy wrote in an e-mail to the Justice.

The group, she wrote, has interviewed three candidates so far. An announcement about McFarlane's replacement will probably be made in the upcoming weeks, and the new hire will start work in late November, according to Eddy.

"Keenyn is one of the best hires I've made," Eddy wrote. "He is very smart, capable, and has wonderful people skills."

McFarlane said he expects that his successor will have a smooth transition.

"Because people are supportive here and students in particular are so knowledgeable about their own affairs, I don't think there will be any sort of gaps," he said.

McFarlane said the new agreement on the joint financing of club sports between the Student Union and the Athletic Department, achieved last semester, was one of the most important issues which he worked on. It was the "foresight and commitment" of students and Union leaders that got the job done, he said.

"I just happened to be a part of it when it hadn't been possible prior to that," McFarlane said.

Current and former Union officials praised McFarlane for his work.

"He was one of the people I saw most often in the administration," former Student Union President Allison Schwartzbaum '08 said. "He would always try to see things from our perspective."

Schwartzbaum added that finding a new candidate for his position will be difficult. "For me, you can never replace [Mcfarlane]," she said, noting that he took his position "above and beyond" what was required. In selecting his replacement, "we need to live up to the standard that we've set now," she said.

Student Union President Shreeya Sinha '09 expressed similar feelings about McFarlane.

"I have a much closer relationship with [McFarlane] than any other administrator," she said. "What's unique about [McFarlane] is he brings the student life perspective into finances."

"His dedication. to helping students is just amazing to me," Sinha added.