Two upper-level administrative positions have been filled at NIU through in-house searches.

NIU Chief Accountant Doug Moore has been named NIU controller, pending Board of Regents approval. Moore replaces Robert Albanese who moved up to director of NIU’s physical plant.

Last week NIU President John La Tourette sparked controversy when he announced his intention to have an internal search to fill two vice presidential positions.

The Faculty Senate opposed La Tourette’s move at its meeting last week and voted for the university to conduct national searches. La Tourette has still not decided how he will go about filling those two positions.

James Harder, vice president for business and operations, said there was nothing unusual about his appointing of Moore and Albanese through in-house searches.

“I’m in a difficult situation here, I initiated the actions as a routine practice. This is generally the way we do business.

“(I) don’t want to become embroiled in (the) other controversy. It would not be appropriate for me, so I will not be able to comment on it,” Harder said.

He said a national search for the physical plant position was conducted last year and resulted in Conrad Miller’s appointment. However, Miller died in April of this year after a long bout with cancer.

Since a national search for the position had already been done earlier in the year, Harder said he was reluctant to conduct another one.

He said for his division, in-house searches were the most prudent course of action. Moore and Albanese met the needs of the university, he said.

“The issues, while having some similarities, are sufficiently different,” Harder said sighting the fact that many positions within his division are civil service jobs and have state regulations which require searches be done in a specific way.

Albanese said his move to director of the physical plant was a good career move for him and will benefit the university because his skills will fit in well there.

He said both Moore and himself would have come out well whether the searches had been internal or external. He said if there are good people internally, an external search might not be necessary.

However, Albanese himself was the product of a national search in 1986 to fill the position of controller. Albanese had been director of accounting at Cornell University in Ithaca, N.Y. “My long term goal is to be a vice president in the administration of a major university. Whether it’s here or elsewhere,” Albanese said.

However, he said he enjoys NIU and would like to continue here.

There also has been some speculation that Albanese might be positioning himself to take over Harder’s position if Harder were to retire, however Harder said this would not be soon.

Harder said he is not old enough to retire and gave no indication that he plans to do so.

He said that Albanese‘ position was “not a training ground,” and that Albanese would “have to live with any statements,” he made regarding advancement.