University of Virginia Library

Back To Family After 15 Years

He told The Cavalier Daily
yesterday that he is "still
looking ahead. I really don't
think this a time to be
retrospective. Maybe when I'm
close to actually going out of
office, but that's quite a ways
yet."The big priority for the
coming months would be to
"get an appropriation for the
undergraduate library."

Joseph H. McConnell Jr.,
Rector of the University,
responded to Mr. Shannon's
announcement to the Board
that "we are confronted today
with a great loss, as well as a
great responsibility."

"Under your guidance," he
told Mr. Shannon, "we have
become a national University.
You have helped attract a
faculty of the highest quality
while developing a program
and plan to challenge and
inspire those who teach and
those who learn."

Mr. McConnell said Mr.
Shannon has put "new and
important emphasis" on
University service to the state
and has "gained recognition in
the councils of higher affairs in
this nation, bringing honor to
you and glory to the
University."

State Secretary of
Education Earl J. Shiflett, who
attended the Board meeting,
said "the University has
achieved not only national
excellence but also
international excellence during
President Shannon's term."

Mr. Shannon received his
B.A. with highest honors at
Washington and Lee in 1939.
He earned a master's degree at
Duke in 1941 and a master's
degree at Harvard in 1947.
From 1947 to 1950 he was a
Rhodes Scholar at Merton
College, Oxford University,
where he received a Ph.D. in
1949.

He was co-recipient at
Washington and Lee in 1939 of
the Algernon Sydney Sullivan
award, given annually to the
outstanding graduate, and the
same year won the Society of
Cincinnati prize in American
History. He was elected to Phi
Beta Kappa and Omicron Delta
Kappa while at Washington and
Lee.

During World War Two, Mr.
Shannon served in the U.S.
Navy, receiving the Bronze Star
in 1945 and the Meritorious
Service medal when he retired
last year as a Captain in the
Naval Reserve.

He taught Naval Science at
Harvard in 1946 and English
from 1950 to 1956. He was a
Fulbright Research Scholar and
a Guggenheim Fellow in
1953-1954, doing research in
England on the literary career
and letters of Alfred, Lord
Tennyson.

Mr. Shannon's field, in
which he teaches here, is 19th century
English literature, and
he is honorary vice president of
the Tennyson Society. He
joined the University faculty in
1956 as an associate professor
and was named full professor
when he became University
President in 1959.

He is a member of
numerous national and
international educational
organizations and has been
president of many of them.