University of Virginia Library

Harris

Robert J. Harris will retire as dean of the
faculty of Arts and Sciences on June 30,
the conclusion of his five year term.

Mr. Harris will return to teaching government
next September. Last February he
was named to the newly established James
Hart Professorship of Government.

Robert J. Harris

Pleased To Teach Again

Mr. Harris was chairman of the department
of political science at Vanderbilt University
when he was elected to the faculty
here in 1963 and appointed dean of the
faculty for five years. At his own request,
he was not considered for reappointment.

The professorship honors James Hart, a
native of Albemarle county, who was professor
of political science at the University
from 1936 until his death in 1959. Dr.
Hart was an authority on the American
Presidency and on administrative law.

The creation of the Hart chair came at
a meeting February of the University's
Board of Visitors.

He is a former president of the Southern
Political Science Association; and former
vice president of the American Political
Science Association. Mr. Harris was the
first editor of the "Journal of Politics" and
has written extensively on politics.

Three Degrees

He holds degrees from Vanderbilt, the
University of Illinois and Princeton University.
He taught at Princeton, the University
of Cincinnati and Louisiana State University
before joining the Vanderbilt faculty
in 1954.

Since his arrival in 1963, the faculty of
the College has been growing at the rate
of approximately twenty new members per
year, Dean Harris noted. That is an increase
of about 50 per cent during his five year
term as Dean.

"I don't take the credit for this though,"
Dean Harris said. "We've had some great
help from department chairmen and President
Shannon in strengthening the faculty."

Mr. Harris pointed out as an example
of this, that next year new faculty members
will be arriving from UCLA, Berkeley,
Stanford, Indiana, Illinois, Michigan, Johns
Hopkins, Princeton, and the University of
Pennsylvania.

"I'm rather pleased to get back to my
own work of teaching," he said. "But I've
enjoyed my five years as Dean of the Faculty.
Perhaps after this job, everything will
seem anticlimactic.