The appointment of Francis Keppel '38, Dean of the Faculty of Education, as United States Commissioner of Education was announced by President Kennedy on Saturday. The post has been vacant since September, when Sterling M. McMurrin resigned and returned to his former post at the University of Utah.

Keppel will be officially installed with in the next three weeks. He plans to be in Washington "part-time" until he assumes his full responsibilities as Commissioner.

Contrary to the speculation which preceded the announcement. Keppel was given no guarantees by the President that the power or prestige of the Commissioner would be upgraded. He emphasized that his only concerns at present would be to "learn the job," not to assess its stature.

Below an Undersecretary

As Commissioner, Keppel will earn only $20,000 a year, a salary which falls far below that of many educational administrators. In addition, the position, which is in the Department of Health, Education and Welfare, is ranked below that of an undersecretary.

On the other hand, as Dean of the Faculty of Education, Keppel has had a free hand in a wide range of fields, with a great room for experimentation. Under his guidance, the School has become a center for training of both students interested in the teaching profession and of experienced teachers and administrators.

He also has been primarily responsible for the great growth of the School. Since he became Dean in 1948, enrollment has quadrupled, and admissions applications have increased from fewer than 200 to nearly 2000.

In his tenure at Harvard, Keppel has frequently advocated a wide-spread program of federal aid to education. Most significantly, he has favored a vast network of nationwide research and development facilities to spur original research.

He has also favored establishing a committee to articulate a national educational policy. In 1960, he served as an adviser to President Kennedy's similar Task Force on Education, and formulated many of his ideas on the role of the federal government in education during that tenure.