Radcliffe Appoints First Man as Admissions Dean

David K. Smith '58, now director of Admissions for Harvard College, will be Radcliffe's first male dean of Admissions, Mrs. Mary I. Bunting, president of Radcliffe, announced yesterday.

In announcing the appointment, Mrs. Bunting said that Smith has worked closely with Radcliffe for the last two years. In 1967-68 he served on the Radcliffe Admissions Policy Committee, and last July he became one of the five special assistants in Admissions at the 'Cliffe.

But both Smith and the retiring dean of Radcliffe Admissions, Mrs. Edward S. Stimpson, stressed that the appointment does not indicate a move toward connecting Harvard and Radcliffe's admissions offices.

Joint Interviews

Smith pointed out, however, that whenever he has gone to high schools to talk to students "I have always interviewed students interested in Harvard and Radcliffe at the same time." The joint interviews, Smith said, "make sense since the curriculum of the two colleges is identical and everyone, women as well as men, graduates with the same Harvard degree."

"Since the Harvard Admissions Office has more officials than Radcliffe, we get to see many more applicants," he added. "If Harvard can help Radcliffe by this greater contact I am all for it."

Smith holds a Ed. M. degree from Harvard's School of Education. Since coming to Harvard in 1961 he has held positions of assistant to the Committee on Admissions and Scholarships, senior advisor to Freshmen, assistant director of Admissions and Freshman Scholarships, and presently director of Admissions.

Meanwhile, Radcliffe officials continued their search for a black admissions officer, interviewing several candidates for a position in the admissions office.

"We have several good prospects now," Mrs. Bunting said yesterday, "but as of yet we have appointed no one."

Black students have modified their earlier demand that a black admissions officer he named by January 15 Dorita C. Fletcher '71, one of the spokesmen of the student group which demanded a voice in the selection of the officer, said "we are more interested in getting a person picked who we like than in caring about dead-lines."

Miss Fletcher added that the student group "is satisfied with the progress Mrs. Bunting is making towards finding a black official."