Frederick Irving, former U.S. ambassador to Jamaica, arrived in Cambridge this week to take up his newly-created position as assistant dean and director of career development at the Kennedy School of Government.

In his new job, Irving will establish connections between the school and public sector agencies, to increase placement possibilities for the school's students and to develop the school's career counseling service, he said yesterday.

If the Shoe Fits

Irving said he will analyze the public sector labor market to determine if Kennedy School programs fit the needs of the market and, if necessary, recommend changes in the programs.

"We are fortunate to have Fred Irving join us at Harvard," Graham T. Allison Jr. '62,dean of the Kennedy School, said yesterday, adding he "was impressed by his long experience and good sense."

Adelaide K. Jones, placement director for the Kennedy School, said yesterday Irving's "wealth of experience" will be helpful to the placement office.

Irving said he is looking forward to working at the Kennedy School, which, he said, "is one of the best, if not the best."

"I'm really concerned about what I consider a slackening of the performing mores on the part of middle-level employees on the one hand, and a slackening of concern about the responsibilities of management on the other," he said. His current job, he added, will let him "get in on the ground floor" to help create responsible public servants.

Irving said he believes his long career in public service will be an advantage in the new job. "I know my way around a bureaucracy," he added.

Irving has served as ambassador to Iceland and as deputy assistant secretary of state for educational and cultural affairs. He entered the government in 1946 as an economist in the Bureau of the Budget, and joined the State Department in 1951.