Don K. Price, professor of Government and dean emeritus of the Kennedy School of Government, will receive a newly endowed professorship, President Bok and Graham T. Allison, dean of the K-School, announced Saturday night.

Price, 70 years old, plans to retire in July, but for the next four months he will serve as the first Albert J. ('50) and Richard W. ('56) Weatherhead Professor of Public Management at the K-School.

The Weatherhead Foundation, which has helped support the K-School in the past, provided the $1 million endowment required by the University for a new professorship.

"It was Albert's idea to honor Don Price in this way," Allison said on Sunday. "No person has played a more important role than Don Price in the development of this school," he added.

Price said on Sunday, "I was utterly surprised by the announcement last night," adding that the appointment is a "very nice compliment."

Allison had carefully orchestrated the surprise announcement at a formal dinner party attended by many of Price's friends and colleagues.

A former vice-president of the Ford Foundation and a former consultant to the Executive Office of the President, Price served as dean of the K-School from 1958 to 1977.