During her four years as director of the Latino/a Student Cultural Center, Elena Quiroz would watch sadly as students she had worked with graduated and moved on from Northeastern. Now, as Quiroz prepares for her last day at the university July 15, she said her students are having that same feeling about her.

“It’s bittersweet,” she said. “I guess they’re getting that feeling now, but in reverse.”

Quiroz, who is expecting a baby in November, will be relocating to the Tampa, Fla. area soon after her last day Friday. The cost of living in Boston, she said, has risen too high for her expanding family.

“To make it in Boston, it wouldn’t really be an option right now,” she said.

Quiroz, who won Campus Activities’ “Advisor of the Year” award for her work with the Latin American Student Association (LASO), said she hopes to keep in touch with the students she is leaving behind.

The process to find a new director has already begun, said Philomena Mantella, senior vice president of enrollment and student life. A committee has been formed consisting of three students, three administrators, an alumnus and Quiroz during her last days at the university. Interviews have already begun, Mantella said, in order to try and fill the position by fall.

Alejandra Lombardo, assistant director of the cultural center, will head up the committee and serve as interim director for the summer. Lombardo said there are several key qualities the committee is searching for in a director.

“They need to be creative, they need to be a self-starter,” she said. “They need to advocate for the students … about the needs of Latino students.”

Lombardo said she has worked with Quiroz as both a student when she attended Northeastern, as well as in her position as assistant director. She said she is more happy than sad for the opportunities that lie ahead for Quiroz.

“I think that this is a transition for her to take her to where she needs to be, I’m happy for her, it’s a continuous process,” Lombardo said. “But she will be missed.”

Quiroz’s resignation came unexpected to students, including Sergio Marrero, president of LASO.

“I was definitely surprised,” said Marrero, who has known Quiroz for three years and is on the committee interviewing candidates for her replacement. “She really reached out to the students and got to know them on a personal level.”

Connecting with students, Quiroz said, was one of the most important parts of her job, and will be the part she misses the most as she moves on.

“I think what makes the difference is doing the job with love,” she said.