Curtiss Behrens, assistant to NIU President John LaTourette, is resigning his position and returning to the department of management, and no replacement will be found in the immediate future.

Behrens said his position in the president’s office, which he has held since Aug. 1986, was never permanent, and he never considered it to be permanent.

“When I originally agreed to work in the role, (the administration knew) my first priority was to the management faculty. I don’t know what the president plans to do to replace me,” he said.

The decision to terminate Behrens’ position came about in a mutual agreement between LaTourette and Behrens in September, he said. It was “clearly understood” when Behrens took the position that he would someday go back to the College of Business.

Behrens said he was returning to the management faculty because there was a resignation in the management department that had to be filled and courses that had to be covered. He has been teaching a Monday night course this semester.

Anne Kaplan, executive assistant to the president, said Behrens has been working half-time in the President’s office in order to teach classes. He will return to teaching a full class load in the spring.

Kaplan said she does not know anyone who might take over Behrens’ position because other members of the President’s staff already have a lot of work to do.

LaTourette said there has been no search for a replacement for Behrens because it has not been determined whether there is a need to replace him, and will not be decided until next year.

Kaplan will take over some of Behrens’ duties, such as the payroll system and human services development, which Behrens has been coordinating, LaTourette said.

LaTourette said if Behrens is replaced, when it will happen depends on whether Kaplan can take care of the issues pending right now, and if there is not too much work for her to do. If NIU can get through the year without replacing Behrens, then it will decide who will replace him, he said.

NIU might have to go outside NIU to find a replacement, LaTourette said. “There is a need for good leadership in the human services area,” he said. “Eventually we will have to replace him.”

LaTourette said Behrens has been working on the discrimination issue. He has been at NIU since 1979, when he started as an assistant professor in the management department.