Russell Appointed as Placement Assistant to President Conant

One more recommendation of the Committee of Eight in regard to Faculty personnel was put into effect yesterday with the announcement by the University that John M. Russell has been appointed Assistant to the President.

Russell, who is now Assistant to the President of the Carnegie Corporation of New York, will be in charge of the placement of members of the Faculty who are leaving the University, and will take office on February 1, 1940.

His position will be similar to the "Director of Placement" recommended by the Committee of Eight as one solution of the tenure problem, and it was announced that he will study the problem of placing teachers when he arrives in Cambridge, besides serving on a University committee on educational placement to be appointed soon.

Good For Morale

The Committee saw a need for an efficient placement service because of increased competition for academic posts throughout the country, and "uneasiness due to frequency of turnover" among the best younger teachers as promotion here becomes more difficult. Such a service, the report said, will "enhance the desirability of non-permanent tenure."

It is understood that Russell, dignified by the title of Assistant to the President of the University, will travel extensively, making contacts with educators and establishing Harvard's position in the market for academic talent.

Before the appointment of an active placement officer the University maintained a bureau of placement whose role was merely to centralize information on teachers who registered with it, and to send specific requests from outside institutions to the chairmen of the proper departments.

Russell graduated from the University of Michigan in 1924, was associated with Ginn and Company. 1924-29; with the American Association for Adult Education, 1929-30; and was Administrative Assistant of the Carnegie Corporation. 1930-34, and Assistant to the President since 1934.