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MIT Institute Archives & Special Collections. Massachusetts Institute of Technology. News Office (AC0069)

From the News Office Massachusetts Institute of Technology Cambridge, Massachusetts 02139 RELEASE ON RECEIPT Telephone: (617) 864-6900, Ext. 2701

The Corporation of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology today of the elected Dr. Jerome B. Wiesner thirteenth President and Chief Executive Officer Institute as of July 1, 1971. Dr. Wiesner succeeds President Howard W. Johnson, who , becomes Chairman of the Corporation upon the retirement of James R. Killian, Jr. on June 30. At the same meeting, the Corporation also created the office of Chancellor take effect to be deputy to the President and elected Dr. Paul E. Gray to this new post, to on the same date. The President-elect has been Provost for the past five years, and prior to rank that he had been Dean of the M.I. T. School of Science. He holds the distinguished of Institute Professor and is a member of the faculty of the Department of Electrical to Engineering. From 1961 to 1964 he was Special Assistant for Science and Technology Presidents Kennedy and Johnson. Dr. Gray is Dean of the School of Engineering and former Associate Provost I. T. of the Institute. He has been Class of 1922 Professor, a chair endowed by that M. Class to emphasize the importance of teaching. Dr. Gray is one of the leaders in the continuing development of the undergraduate curriculum at M. I. T. The Corporation acted upon the recommendation of its Committee on the Presidency, appointed last September to conduct a search for a successor to President Johnson and to make recommendations concerning the structure of the Institute's a Presidency. In consultation with Dr. Wiesner, it concluded that there should be Chancellor, and Dr. Wiesner proposed Dr. Gray for this post. The Chancellor will serve as deputy to the President in all matters and will the Presi- be a member of the Corporation. The appointment of a Chancellor as deputy to and unusual dent recognizes the increased scope and responsibilities of M. I. T., the heavy consequent need for a responsibilities which must be carried by its senior officers, and the --- more---

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greater sharing and delegation of administrative responsibilities and a strengthening of the administrative organization of the Institute. In announcing the election of Drs. Wiesner and Gray, Dr. Killian said: "In its modern era M. I. T. has had exceptionally gifted leadership. , Julius A. Stratton, and Howard W. Johnson, each in his own time, made extraordinary contributions to the development of M. I. T. as a great national institution. We now look forward with confidence, and indeed with a great sense of expectation, to the new leader- ship of Drs. Wiesner and Gray. " President Johnson said: "M. I. T. is plainly fortunate in the election of Jerome Wiesner as President and Paul Gray as Chancellor. There is no question about their accomplishments and their qualifications. The times ahead in education will require extraordinary vision and innovation, budgetary wisdom, and a great sense of steadiness. History will show, I believe, that they were the right men for these times. " The Corporation Committee on the Presidency will continue to be available to the new administration in the review of the over -all administrative structure of the Institute. Dr. James B. Fisk, President of Bell Telephone Laboratories and a Life Member of the M. I. T. Corporation, served as Chairman of the Corporation Committee on the Presidency. The other members of the Committee are: , Paul V. Keyser, Jr., Carl M. Mueller, Julius A. Stratton, George W. Thorn, Jeptha H. Wade, and Uncas A. Whitaker. Mr. Keyser is President of the M.I. T. Alumni Association. The Committee was assisted in its work by a Faculty Advisory Committee and by the Corporation Joint Advisory Committee on Institute -Wide Affairs. The members of the Faculty Committee, selected by the Faculty, are: Professors Samuel W. Bodman III, Eric R. Cosman, Richard L. DeNeufville, John M. Deutch, Peter Elias, Morris Halle, Willard R. Johnson, John D. C. Little, Henry A. Millon, and Patrick M. Hurley, Chairman. The members of the Corporation joint Advisory Committee, composed of faculty, students, and members of the Corporation, are: Hayward R. Alker, James A. Champy, Gregory C. Chisholm, Irvin S. Englander, Jerrold M. Grochow, Hermann A. Haus, Randolph G. Hawthorne, Paul V. Keyser, Jr., William T. Martin, James A. Monk, Jr., Stewart C. Myers, William L. Porter, Jeptha H. Wade, D. Reid Weedon, Jr., Steven Weinberg, James S. Wiley, John J. Wilson, and Gregory Smith, Chairman.

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President-elect Wiesner, whose field of professional specialization is communications science and engineering, was born May 30, 1915, in , . He received B. S. (1937), M. S. (1938), and Ph. D. (1950) degrees in from the , was associate director of the University of Michigan broadcast service 1937-40 and chief engineer for the acoustical and record laboratory M. I. T. of the Library of Congress 1940-42. With the start of World War II, he joined the He Radiation Laboratory, where he was a leader in the wartime development of . was at the University of California's Los Alamos, New Mexico, Scientific Laboratory in 1945-46 and returned to M. I. T. as an Assistant Professor of Electrical Engineering in Associate 1946, where he has been a member of the faculty ever since. He became was director Professor in 1947, full Professor in 1950, and Institute Professor in 1962. He to 1961 and of M.I. T.'s interdisciplinary Research Laboratory of Electronics from 1952 acting head of the Electrical Engineering Department from 1958 to 1961. He became of the presidential science adviser in 1961. Dr. Wiesner returned to M.I. T. as Dean School of Science in 1964 and was appointed Provost in 1966 when Mr. Johnson became the President. Dr. Wiesner is a member of the National Academy of Sciences and of National Academy of Engineering. He is married to the former Laya Wainger and they 18. have four children: Stephen J., 28; Zachary K., 24; Elizabeth A. ,21; and Joshua A., The family makes its home (at 61 Shattuck Road) in Watertown, Massachusetts, where committee. after his return from Washington, Dr. Wiesner twice was elected to the town school The new Chancellor, Dr. Gray, an authority on semiconductor electronics and circuit theory, was born February 7, 1932, at Newark, New Jersey. He received M. I. T. S. B. (1954), S. M. (1955), and Sc. D. (1960) degrees in electrical engineering from 1957. and has been a member of the M. I. T. teaching staff in electrical engineering since He was appointed Assistant Professor in 1960, Associate Professor in 1964, and full Council Professor in 1967. He is a former chairman of the M. I. T. Freshman Advisory Assistant and was Associate Dean of Student Affairs from 1965-1967, when he was appointed His Provost with special responsibilities for undergraduate curriculum development. Class teaching skills and interests received additional recognition when he was appointed of of 1922 Professor at M. I. T., a chair endowed by alumni of that Class in recognition

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gifted teaching. He was made Associate Provost in mid-1969 and was appointed Dean of Engineering in 1970. He is married to the former Priscilla W. King and they have four children: Virginia W., 13; Amy B., 12; Andrew K., 9; and Louise M., 8. The family makes its home (at 5 Sheffield Road) in Winchester, Massachusetts.

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March 5, 1971

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