University of Virginia Library

Deans Attempt To Mix Leadership, Guidance

By Rick Pearson
Cavalier Daily Staff Writer

As violent protest continues to
explode on the most likely and
unlikely campuses across the nation,
it is The Administration that
is frequently looked upon as The
Enemy. The head of the University's
administration who provides
the most conspicuous target here is
President Edgar F. Shannon Jr.

There are innumerable tasks
assigned to the President of the
University, but communication
with and guidance of students must
be considered a major part of his
job. Besides heading a group of
administration officials in the routine
of day to day work, the
President must also keep close
touch with the classroom and the
human aspects of leadership.

Classroom Contacts

The leading administration officials,
who are faced with these
problems, include D. Alan Williams,
Dean of Student Affairs; David
Allen Shannon, Dean of the Faculty
of Arts and Sciences; Ernest H.
Ern, Dean of Admissions; Irby B.
Cauthen Jr., Dean of the College of
Arts and Sciences; and the deans of
the other various schools of the
University.

All these men have accumulated
honors in their own academic
fields, but they do not merely hide
behind their sheepskins or a list of
honors. A major question in higher
education today is whether or not
administrators should continue to
teach classroom courses, in the face
of increasing charges that administrators
already have enough to
do without teaching burdens.

Teaching Burdens

But in an effort to keep in
contact with the classroom, several
University officials still carry at
least a minimal course load.

Mr. Shannon was elected the
fourth president of the University
in 1959. A graduate of Washington
and Lee University and a Rhodes
Scholar at Oxford University, he
has done extensive research as a
Fulbright Research Scholar and as a
Guggenheim Fellow on the literary
career and letters of Alfred Lord
Tennyson. He teaches a course each
year on the poet.

Mr. Shannon formerly served on
the Board of Visitors of the United
States. Naval Academy and on the
Governing Board of the Air Force
Academy. He is now a member of
the Southern Regional Education
Board and is president of the
Council of Southern Universities.

Mr. Williams is beginning his
second year as Dean of Student
Affairs, an office that gives him

responsibility over student health,
placement, financial laid, counseling,
and dormitory discipline. He
also will serve as advisor to foreign
students, the intramural athletic
program, and the University Union.

A magna cum laude graduate of
Westminster College, Dean Williams
received his master's degree and
Ph.D. from Northwestern University.
He came to the University as
an instructor in 1957 and later was
an associate professor specializing
in the history of Virginia and
Colonial America. Since then, he
has served as director of the Echols
Scholar program, assistant dean of
the College of Arts and Sciences,
and assistant provost of the University.

Mr. Shannon, Dean of the
Faculty, is the newest member of
the administration. Appointed in
May to succeed Fredson Bowers, he
will be chief advisor to the
President and Provost concerning
undergraduate and graduate courses
of study and will also preside at
faculty meetings.

His office became a seat of
controversy last spring when students
demonstrated in favor of
allowing press coverage and student
attendance at faculty meetings.
This issue has not yet been settled,
and it will probably be one of Mr.
Shannon's first problems.

The new Dean of the Faculty, a
specialist in 20th Century American
History, received his B.S. from
Indiana State Teachers College and
a Ph.M. at the University of
Wisconsin. He has written extensively
on the Socialist and Communist
parties in America.

Before coming to the University
this fall, Mr. Shannon was chairman
of the history department at
Rutgers University. He also served
in this capacity at the University of
Maryland, and he has taught at
Columbia Teachers College, the
University of Wisconsin and at
Carnegie institute of Technology.

Formerly an assistant dean of
the College of Arts and Sciences,
Mr. Ern was appointed Dean of
Admissions three years ago. The
36-year-old dean received his B.S.
in geology from Bates College and
his Ph.D. 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 five years. He too has
become the center of student
protest as students last year demonstrated
for the admission of
more Negroes to the University.