Sarah Bordeleau, who spent three years as assistant director of Student Activities, is leaving Brandeis next week to work at American Program Bureau, a Newton-based agency that organizes speaker events and creative programming.Director of Student Activities Stephanie Grimes said Bordeleau's last day is November 5. Grimes said she will lead a search in the next few months for Bordeleau's replacement, a process she hopes to complete by Jan. 1st.

In the interim, Student Activities adviser Sarah Richardson and Grimes will work with Student Events, and the rest of the staff will work on Bordeleau's other projects, Grimes said.

Grimes said Bordeleau "has always and is always efficient, reliable and always goes the extra mile."

Bordeleau said she will begin as a sales associate at APB, which works to bring universities and corporations high-profile speakers for events such as commencements. Bordeleau will then spend six months to one year training, "in hopes of becoming a sales agent." She added that she couldn't have gotten her new job if she had not had her job here, and that "everything flows together."

Bordeleau came to Brandeis in August 2004 after working as a graduate assistant at Simmons College and at the Wentworth Insititue of Technology in its student activities departments. She also held a summer job working for Northeastern University campus center operations.

Bordeleau said that her favorite activities were working on Student Events to plan the fall and spring concerts, working on Sundeis Film Festival, Louie Louie, Bronstein week, Springfest-a day of concerts on the Great Lawn in the spring-and the Festival of the Arts.

She said that she is moving on to try new things and gain experience, but that she will still get to work with students in her new job. She explained, however, that she will work from the perspective of an agent and do things like booking speakers, rather than helping students plan the event.

Grimes said Bordeleau's quiet presence is calming for a lot of students, and she helps students get to the right answer on their own.

Student Activities and community service department coordinator Michelle Ercoline said Bordeleau is a "person I can always rely on and trust with everything."

Ercoline said she and Bordeleau started working at Brandeis one week apart and learned about everything together, from orientation to family weekend. She said they sold student discount tickets together, made up budgets for events and worked on Sundeis, Stein Nights and Senior Week.

Ercoline said she and Bordeleau became such good friends that Bordeleau was part of her wedding.

Nikki Salzman '08, a former coordinator for Student Events who now works as its social events director, said she worked with Bordeleau since the first year both of them came to Brandeis. Salzman said Bordeleau "straddled the line" between administration and students, a task Salzman said is often difficult.

Bordeleau said that working with Student Events was the best part of her job here. She said that she also liked seeing how hard students work to put on events and contribute to social life.

Salzman said that Bordeleau was supportive of Student Events and wanted them to succeed.

"She doesn't try to impose her will on anyone," Salzman said. "These are our events and she helps."

Bordeleau said that leaving is "bittersweet" and that she learned a lot, but is excited to move on and that it's "time for a change.