In a surprise move that drew immediate praise from faculty, President Bok this week announced the appointment of prominent educator Patricia A. Graham as the next dean of the School of Education, making her the first female dean of a faculty in Harvard's history.

She will replace current dean Paul N. Ylvisaker on July 1. The selection of Graham ends a five-month search that began when Ylvisaker told the Ed School faculty early in June that he intended to bring his ten-year career as dean to a close.

Gender considerations apparently did not influence Bok's choice; Graham, Warren Professor of the History of Education and former director of the National Institute of Education (NIE), "was simply a natural" for the post, the president said this week.

But Graham was the only woman and only Harvard affiliate on the "short list" of strong candidates forwarded to Bok by an informal advisory committee, members of that groups said. All praised Bok's selection, and several indicated that Graham's longtime Harvard affiliation probably helped her chances.

Announcing the selection at a regularly scheduled Ed School faculty meeting Monday, Bok caught professors by surprise. Only three days earlier he had quietly confirmed the appointment during a meeting with Graham in Washington, D.C., where she is in the midst of a one-year sabbatical.

But positive reaction came swiftly. Praising the choice as "a terrific appointment," President Horner, under whom Graham worked for several years as vice president of Radcliffe, said, "It will be fun to have another woman on the council of deans."

Other professors lauded the active part Graham has played as chairman of the school's committee on school leadership, a body responsible for drafting training programs for administrators of elementary and high schools. Most predicted that Graham, as dean, will continue to put a high priority on devising programs for educators at the pre-collegiate level.

And, they stressed, Graham is likely to maintain relaxed style as dean, probably using informal meetings with faculty and students to help her make decisions. "She's not going to be hiding in the office," one professor said.

Graham herself was unavailable for comment during the week. She is using her sabbatical to research and write a book on the federal government's role in education, using Washington as a base of operations.