Pusey to Be Acting Dean Of Ed School

President Pusey announced yesterday that he will serve as acting Dean of the Graduate School of Education next year while he continues his search for a permanent successor to U.S. Commissioner of Education Francis Keppel '38.

In a surprise move, the President told the Ed School Faculty that it will not be possible to find a replacement for Keppel by the time the current acting Dean, Judson T. Shaplin, leaves Harvard in June for Washington University. Pusey had been expected to announce the new Dean at Commencement.

"In this situation," Pusey declared in a prepared statement, "it seems to me best not to appoint another acting Dean, but rather to try myself, with the aid of an administrative group, to fill the role until a new Dean can be appointed."

The four-man administrative council will undertake most of the daily operation of the Ed School, although Pusey will have considerable influence on policy decisions.

The Council's members will be Ed School secretary Dana Cotton, assistant Deans Edward G. Kaelber and Joseph J. Young, Jr., and Theodore R. Sizer, assistant professor of Education. Sizer will have special responsibility in connection with the academic program.

Pusey stressed that he "has no special program in mind other than keeping the work of the School going forward as effectively as possible." He said that "for the present" the regular meetings of the Senior Faculty and other customary administrative practices of the School will continue unchanged.

In 1961-62, the President served as acting Dean of the Faculty of Arts and Sciences in order to achieve a better understanding of the Faculty's operation and now wants to do the same at the Ed School. "I look forward happily to this opportunity to acquire a more intimate knowledge of this lively department of the University," Pusey said in his statement.

The President said that he "has no way of telling how long it will be before a new permanent leader can be appointed," but confirmed that he hopes it can be soon.