University of Virginia Library

Leadership Blended With Academic Talent

Administrators Stay In Class

By Thom Faulders
Cavalier Daily Staff Writer

With the many first-year men
beginning their college careers,
capable and knowledgeable deans
and other administration officials
are needed to guide them through
the initial year.

The University's four top
administrators dealing with the
first-year men have not lost touch
with the classroom, nor are they
concealed behind a list of honors.

Edgar Shannon Jr., President
of the University, D. Alan Williams,
Dean of Student Affairs, Ernest H.
Ern, Dean of Admissions, and
Chester R. Titus, Director of
University Housing, are personable
gentlemen who are familiar with
the many phases of University life
from experiences either as a
student, a teacher, or an administrator.

Mr. Shannon, a Washington and
Lee University graduate, was a
Rhodes Scholar at Oxford
University and first came to the
University as an associate professor
of English.

He was later elected to full
professor, and in 1959 the Board
of Visitors elected him the fourth
President of the University. He was
also head English tutor at Harvard
University, where he received his
master's degree. He received an
additional master's degree from
Duke University.

He has done extensive work as a
Fulbright Research Scholar and as a
Guggenheim Fellow on the literary
career and letters of Alfred Lord
Tennyson.

Holding many honors, Mr.
Shannon is a member of the Board
of Visitors, United States Naval
Academy, the Southern Regional
Educational Board, and the Council
of Southern Universities, of which
he is president.

Dean Williams

Beginning his first year as Dean
of Student Affairs, Dean Williams,
who replaced Dean B. F. D. Runk,
will assume his duties dealing with
matters relating to student
government, discipline dormitory
and student counselling, student
health, placement, and also
financial aid. He will also serve as
advisor to foreign students, the
intramural athletic program, and
the University Union.

The Dean of Student Affairs has
been assistant provost of the
University since 1966, in which he
acted as a liaison for academic
affairs between the University and
its branch colleges. He has also been
an associate professor specializing
in the history of Virginia and
Colonial America and in a student
advisory position as assistant dean
of the College of Arts and Sciences
and as director of the Echols
Scholar's program.

Mr. Williams graduated magna
cum laude from Westminister
College in New Hampshire, Pa., and
received his master's degree and
Ph.D. from Northwestern
University. He has taught at
Northwestern and at Queens
College in North Carolina before
joining the University faculty as an
instructor in 1957.

Dean Ern

Formerly an assistant dean of
the College of Arts and Sciences,

Mr. Ern was appointed Dean of
Admissions two years ago. The
35-year old dean received his B.S.
degree in geology from Bates
College in Maine in 1955, and his
Ph.D. in geology from Lehigh
University in 1959.

Three years later he was named
assistant professor of geology at the
University. Mr. Ern has won two
National Science Foundation grants
in the last four years.

Housing Director

Mr. Titus received both his B.A.
and M.A. from the University of
New Hampshire, and he became
Director of University Housing in
1958. He is the manager of the
Colonnade Club, a member of the
Association of College and
University Housing Officers and of
the American College Personnel
Association.

Robert T. Canevari, former
director of financial aid to students,
was appointed the assistant dean to
the University which was created
about a year ago.

New Deans

Several dean positions have been
filled by new faces, although they

will not affect the first-year man
directly. Of the five new deans, two
have come to Charlottesville for the
first time, and the remaining three
have been promoted from other
faculty posts. They include Dr.
Fredson Bowers, Dean of the
Faculty of Arts and Sciences, Dr.
Frederick Cyphert, Dean of the
School of Education, Andre c. de
Porry, Dean of the School of
General Studies, and Monrad
Paulsen, Dean of the School of
Law.

Dr. Bowers, formerly chairman
of the University English
department, is an international
authority in bibliographical theory
and a specialist in Shakespeare
studies. As Dean of the Faculty of
Arts and Sciences, He serves as
chief advisor to the provost and the
president on courses of study in
graduate and undergraduate arts
and sciences. He will also hold the
Linden Kent Professorship of
English beginning this session.

Dr. Cyphert is a specialist in the
fields of junior high curriculum,
library usage and teacher education.
He has been director of instruction
in the Torrence, California, schools
and came to the University from
Ohio State University where he was
associate dean for instruction and
research.

Mr. de Porry became director of
general extension for the School of
General Studies in 1962. For the
past two years he has been state
program director for Title 1 of the
Higher Education Act of 1965. The
school now provides courses taken
by more than 25,000 persons each
year in nearly 100 Virginia
communities