The Graduate School of Education should have a permanent dean named by September, President Neil L. Rudenstine said in a recent interview.

But Rudenstine said that while he hopes the position itself will be filled, the Longfellow Hall office may remain empty for a few more months.

"What we're looking for is commitment, not necessarily physical presence," he said.

The slot is again open since Columbia Teachers College professor Linda Darling-Hammond, who had accepted the post last spring, announced that personal reasons would prevent her from coming to Harvard.

Rudenstine said that earlier this summer, he asked Education School faculty and senior staff to write him with suggestions of possible candidates.

The president said he will not necessarily choose an insider for the deanship, although some faculty members have speculated that time constraints will make an internal candidate a probable choice.

"It may not be fruitful to continue looking outside," said Professor of Education Carol H. Weiss.

In addition, said Stanford School of Education Dean Marshall S. Smith '59, a search with outside candidates might pose some logistical difficulties. "You need time in order to conduct a full-blown search," he said.

Smith said that the Education School has some "potentially very attractive internalpeople."

Any search--but especially an outsidesearch--is unlikely to yield a candidate who willbe available this fall. but Rudenstine said thatwon't be a problem for the Education School;Acting Dean Catherine E. Snow planned to remain inher post for the fall semester anyway, he said.

Secretive Search

As Rudenstine works to reappoint a dean asquickly as possible, professors say the search isbusiness as usual--secretive and silent.

Several Education School professors contactedsaid they know little about the search, which hasbeen conducted with the aid of a facultycommittee.

"I've heard almost nothing," Weiss said. "It'sbeen extraordinarily quiet...nobody seems to knowanything."

Meanwhile, Weiss said, "we are remarkablycontent...we seem to be doing extraordinarily wellwithout a dean."

But Smith said that while the school'sday-to-day operations can run smoothly in theabsence of a dean, the upcoming University-widecapital campaign will make a permanent deanimperative.