Two Professors Reach Retirement Age

David Riesman '31, Ford Professor of Social Sciences, will go into full retirement in June.

Riesman, who has taught and studied in sociology, psychology and education, first gained prominence in the early 1950s when he published "The Lonely Crowd," a book about large cities.

Since then, Riesman has primarily studied and taught the subject of American higher education. In addition to several works on the American college, he published "Education and Politics at Harvard College" in 1974 and is working on a book for the Carnegie Council on Policy Studies of Higher Education concerning student-faculty relations and faculty morale.

Stephen K. Bailey, professor of Education and Social Policy and president of the National Academy of Education, yesterday called Riesman "one of the most extraordinary scholars in the United States in education and sociology."

"Few people have had a more basic impact on students than David Riesman," Bailey said.

Since he assumed his chair in 1958, Riesman had been a member of the faculty of the Graduate School of Education and sat on committees including General Education, Social Relations, Sociology and Social Studies.

Riesman said yesterday he will stay in Cambridge to work with Nieman Foundation fellows and on a fellowship at the Kennedy School of Government.

He said he also expects to deliver guest lectures at the Business School and the College and plans to teach an extension course in a few years.