Wiener Professor of Public Policy David T. Ellwood '75 will step down as Academic Dean of the Kennedy School at the end of the academic year, citing a desire to increase his focus on researching welfare and poverty.

He will be replaced by Stanton Professor of the First Amendment Frederick Schauer, a scholar with a focus on constitutional law and a member of the Shorenstein Center on the Press, Politics and Public Policy.

Schauer served as interim director of the Shorenstein Center while Marvin Kalb was on sabbatical in the 1994-95 academic year, and says that he is ready for the challenge.

"The Kennedy School's extraordinary number and diversity of teaching programs, research initiatives and policy constituencies makes this a quite daunting job, and it is personally gratifying that the dean and my colleagues believe I can handle it," said Schauer, who will take office July 1.

"In my own career I've tried to demonstrate that serious scholarship, a commitment to hands-on teaching, and an involvement in policy making on both the domestic and international level are not incompatible," Schauer said.

Schauer's teaching and writings focus on freedom of speech and press, political philosophy and legal constraints on policy making. He has authored or co-authored five books, and is active in projects on constitutional and legal development in South Africa, Australia, Taiwan, Belarus, Estonia and Mongolia. His work has earned the praise of his colleagues.

"As one of the people principally responsible for getting Schauer [to the Kennedy School], I feel a particular sense of pride that he has done so well in such a brief period," said Kalb. "He has a wide-ranging mind, broad interests, deep commitment to public policy, mixed with a warm and engaging personality."

Ellwood served as academic dean during his last three years at Harvard, which were broken up by a stint in Washington during which he served as an Assistant Secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services in the Clinton administration. He resigned last year when it was clear the president would sign a Republican version of the welfare reform bill.

"David Ellwood did a splendid job in his three years as academic dean," said Joseph S. Nye, dean of the Kennedy School. "Fred Schauer has large shoes to fill but he is an excellent scholar who enjoys the full respect of his colleagues."

During his tenure as academic dean, Ellwood helped recruit several star faculty members to the Kennedy School's Wiener Center for Social Policy, including William Julius Wilson, Katherine S. Newman and Christopher S. Jencks '58, a Crimson editor.

Ellwood also said that he would take next year off from teaching to increase time for research, which he said will take a new focus within his general field of poverty.

"I think the changes in welfare are likely to make the labor market much worse, but I think there are a larger set of questions for improving the economic position of less-skilled workers," Ellwood said.