University of Virginia Library

Shannon Announces August 1974 Resignation

By NEILL ALFORD, III

CD/ H

Shannon Talking About Resignation Yesterday:

Looking Forward, Not Back

University President Edgar
F. Shannon Jr. announced
yesterday that he will resign his
post at the end of August 1974.

Mr. Shannon, fourth
President of the University,
told the Board of Visitors that
he wishes to give up the office
while he is still in "full force of
physical vigor, and unimpaired
enthusiasm, and strength of
mind and spirit."

"I shall have completed
fifteen years as President of the
University," he said. "That
seems to me to be an
appropriate time of service in
this capacity, and in the
current experience of
American universities it is an
extended one."

A native of Lexington, Va.,
Mr. Shannon, now 54,
succeeded former Gov. Colgate
W. Darden in 1959 when he was
an associate professor of
English. Now a full professor,
he has continued to teach since
taking office.

He indicated that he will
stay on here as a full-time
faculty member after his
resignation. "I'm a Professor of
English at the University," he
said after the Board meeting,
"and I expect to go right on.
But I really haven't done a lot
of thinking about that (the
future), there'll be a lot of time
to talk about the details of
what the plans are. The timing
is right for the University and
for me, and to give the Board
time to be planning."

Returning To Teaching

"I wish to pass on my
duties to another while I am
still enjoying them as I do," he
said, expressing a desire to
devote more time to his
growing family and to return
to his "first love of teaching
and scholarship."

The timing of his decision
will give the University,
"currently thriving and
vigorous," ample time to select
a successor, he said.

I wanted to time this so
that I could go through the
next General Assembly, to see
the budget appropriation
through," he added later,
"then the next man can come
in in the middle of the
bennum so he doesn't have to
go right through the
appropriation cycle... he's got a
year to get used to it and also
there is now the interim short
session where he'll probably
have some business, various
things come up affecting the
University, and he can get a
little experience with the
legislature, but it's not like
having to do the whole
appropriation thing. This gives
him a year to get organized."

Speaking to the University
Senate confidentially in the
morning before his formal
announcement, he said he was
confident the Board of
Visitors, which will appoint a
successor, will seek Senate
participation in looking for a
successor.

Re-examine Goals

"It behooves every
university to take account of
itself at reasonable intervals, to
re-examine its goals and
prospects, and to rededicate
itself to its ideals and
aspirations under renewed
leadership," he declared.

"Although there are still a
number of things that I should
like to bring about, and one
always falls short of one's
expectancy, most of the major
commitments that I undertook
when I accepted the Presidency
have now been accomplished,
or are well on their way to
fulfillment."