Dean Elder, upon formal approval by the Corporation this morning, will appear in Washington a week from today to be sworn in as administrator of the Graduate Fellowship division of the $80,000,000 national scholarship program, a Health, Education and Welfare official disclosed Saturday.

Samuel A. Stouffer, professor of Sociology, also upon approval will serve as acting dean until the return in the spring of Reginald D. Phelps, Associate Dean of GSAS, who is presently on leave from the University.

"The appointment, which will not exceed two years' duration, will take Elder into the field very quickly," the source said. He will soon address groups of graduate school deans in Chicago, Boston and San Francisco, explaining the program and estimating the proportion of funds expendable in different institutions. It is uncertain as yet how much of the two years the Dean will spend away from Cambridge.

"Elder's first assignment will be the Spring Fellowships, to apply in the fall of 1959, if all goes as planned," the Health, Education and Welfare authority said. Elder, in Chicago over the weekend, could not be reached for comment.

Elder's Graduate Fellowship division is one of the four major areas of the program which implements the National Education Bill. The other divisions are: Student Loan, Language Development, and cash gift Financial Aid. Elder will serve under the general administrator of the program, Homer D. Babbit, director of financial aid at Yale.