After handling the job himself for eight months, President Pusey has appointed 31-year-old Theodore R. Sizer as the new dean of the Graduate School of Education.

The appointment went into effect yesterday when the Board of Overseers accepted Pusey's recommendation. Sizer will head a faculty of more than 80 members, who instruct the school's 700-odd M.A., M.A.T., and PhD. candidates.

The Ed School had lacked a permanent dean since Francis Keppel '38 gave up the position in 1962 to become U.S. Commissioner of Education. Justin T. Shaplin '42, then acted as dean until Pusey took over last June.

Sizer plans no immediate changes in the programs or policies of the Ed school, although he does forsee possible future changes in the school's practice-teaching program. Until his appointment he was a member of a four-man committee in charge of the school's daily operations but feels that as dean he has "a different vantage point and must learn before making changes."

An assistant professor of education since he received his Ph. D from Harvard in 1961, Sizer has taught several University courses in the history of education, his primary field.

Although Sizer will temporarily remain director of the MAT program, which trains students as secondary school teachers, he will be unable to devote as much time to it as in the past.

The new post will not affect Sizer's teaching load. He will continue to give one half-course each semester. This term he is leading a seminar on American education during the years 1920-1940.