NIU’s Affirmative Action office soon will have a long-needed assistant director after a vacancy of one year.

Anne Kaplan, executive assistant to NIU president John LaTourette, said the position was left vacant for so long due to funding problems. She said the positions of director and assistant director were opened in spring 1987.

The position of director was given to current director Marilyn Monteiro.

Monteiro said her office was given the go-ahead in July by the president’s office to search for an assistant director.

Monteiro said she knew she would need an assistant when she was interviewing for the job in May 1987, due to the fact that the office’s duties have greatly expanded. Even though she now will have an assistant, “One is not enough.”

George Gutierrez, committee member and acting director of University Resources for Latinos, said a search committee of 13 members, composed of faculty, staff and students of different departments and races was then formed. The committee met to read, summarize and discuss the applications, he said.

Monteiro said there was a regional search for the position using advertisements in such publications as the Chicago Tribune, the Rockford Register Star and the DeKalb Chronicle. She said organizations in the Midwest, New England and the Western United States were sent a notice that the position was open.

Judy Bischoff, committee member and University Council executive secretary, said three applicants are being considered for the post and will appear at three open forums at which the public can interview them. The position will be filled shortly after, she said.

Judy Allen, Mirtlean Jenkins and a third woman who has requested not to be identified yet are the three candidates, Monteiro said.

Allen is an equal opportunity specialist for the Equal Opportunity Commission, a federal agency. She has doctoral and master’s degrees in psychology, Monteiro said.

Jenkins is currently an adjunct professor in the department of communication education in the College of Education at the University of Wisconsin at Milwaukee, Monteiro said. She has a doctoral degree in human services administration and a master’s of social work degree in psychiatric social work.

The forums will be Sept. 13 in Holmes Student Center room 505, Sept. 14 in Lowden Hall 201 and Gabel Hall 148, and Sept. 16 in HSC room 505. All sessions will be from 10:30 a.m. to 11:30 a.m. and 2 p.m. to 3 p.m.