Buck and Sears Directing Behavioral Study Program

Two University figures were appointed yesterday to the board of directors of the Ford Foundation's now $3,500,000 program for advanced study in social relations and human behavior.

Provost Buck and Robert R. Sears, professor of Education and Child Psychology, will serve along with six other educators and businessmen as directors of the Center for Advanced Study in Behavioral Science. Frank Station, President of the Columbia Broadcasting System, has been named chairman.

The center's six-year program will concentrate on providing study opportunities for promising young Ph.D.'s in the field. This is in line with the recommendations of a foundation planning group which found that "a critical shortage of highly trained men in these fields seriously threatens the pace of scientific advancement."

"Our hope," said Paul, G. Hoffman, president and director of the foundation, "is that by providing the finest talent with the best opportunities for development we can further the scientific study of man."

The center will also provide advanced study opportunities for faculty members and behavioral scientists of established reputation. It will work closely with universities and colleges throughout the country.

Professors Laud Plan

The program was met by enthusiastic approval from University professors today.

Sears emphasized the serious shortage of competent researchers in the social sciences. For this reason, he feels the center will prove "extremely important" in the development of the field.

Samuel A. Stouffer, director of the Laboratory of Social Relations and a member of the planning committee for the program, said that demands from business and government as well as education for men in this field are "utterly fantastic."

Talcott Parsons, professor of Sociology, also laid stress on the need for increasing personnel in the field. "The area is developing so fast that there are just not enough well-trained people to fill the needs," he said.