Master Pappenheimer Resigning To Gain More Time for Research

Alwin M. Pappenheimer Jr. '29 has resigned as Master of Dunster House, effective at the end of the Spring term. No successor has been named.

Pappenheimer, professor of Biology, will remain at Harvard and continue teaching microbiology. In a letter to Dunster residents yesterday, Pappenheimer said his nine years as Master have been very happy, "but I now feel that it is time for me to get back to the laboratory and to try to catch up a bit in my field in the hope of improving my teaching and research."

The Corporation accepted Pappenheimer's resignation Monday.

When he was selected for the Master's job several years ago, Pappenheimer said last night, "the idea was to find a scientist able to continue to do his work and to be Master of a House."

House Affairs

"Until a year or two ago that worked out all right," he said, but now his "mind is more often occupied with the affairs of the House" than with academic concerns. "I'm not up on the literature as well as I would like," he added.

In his letter Pappenheimer said. "I like the Harvard undergraduates of today. I admire and respect their concern for what is happening to society." But, he said last night, "I don't always agree with the way they do things.

"The thing that upsets me is that there is a mustrust of institutions," Pappenheimer said.

He added that he has tried as Master to get across the idea that "Harvard has done something for its students they can never get over. They owe something to this place."

Pappenheimer said he hopes a successor can be chosen before the end of the term.