Opening the first of three exploratory sessions, the new Littauer School of Public Administration will get under way today with the initial conference of prominent officials drawn from Federal, State, and local administration posts.

Extraordinary secrecy surrounds the calling of this first session, with University officials keeping both the names of the men and the subjects up for discussion under cover.

The reason for this secrecy, it was explained yesterday, is that the faculty of the new school wants to keep the nationally known figures expected to arrive today free from the annoyance of photographers and news men, and be able to devote their complete attention to the formulation of plans for the new school.

Temporary headquarters of the Littauer School are now in Hunt Hall, but it is not known whether the conference today will be held there or not. Plans for the building in which to house the unique educational venture have been completed, but their acceptance depends upon the choice of a site. It was learned on food authority that the large lot behind the Business School has been rejected and that it is more than probable that the new building will be located either on the parking space next to the Hygiene building on Holyoke Street, or close to the Law School.

The Public Administration School will not be open for students until September 1938. The present exploratory session consisting of conferences and discussion with administrative officials will last until June, and two more such sessions are planned for next year.

The group of administrative experts arriving today will stay about one or two weeks, when another group will come to continue the discussions. A grant of $65,000 was received from the Rockefeller Foundation to conduct these three preliminary sessions.