WELLESLEY--The trustees of Wellesley College last week selected Nannerl Keohane, associate professor of political science at Stanford University, to become Wellesley's 11th president next fall.

A search committee composed of ten trustees, four faculty members and three students selected Keohane unanimously, Rachel Jacoff, a faculty member of the committee, said. Keohane was selected becasuse of "her distinction of mind, her vitality and energy, and her commitment to women's issues and scholarship in general," Jacoff said.

Keohane, who also is chairman of the faculty senate at Stanford, has specialized in feminist theory and 17th century French political thought.

A 1961 Wellesley graduate, Keohane said, "It was very important for me to be at a women's college. There was nobody else around but us to do the active, aggressive things. I gained a certain kind of confidence there that is a little harder to get in a co-ed environment."

After graduating from Wellesley, Keohane studied at Oxford and Yale universities. She joined the Stanford faculty in 1973.

Former Wellesley President Barabara Newell resigned in May 1980 and is now serving in the Carter administration. The acting president is Carol Johns, a member of the faculty of the Johns Hopkins Medical School.