Frederick Schauer, the Frank Stanton Professor of the First Amendment, has been named academic dean at the Kennedy School of Government, Dean Joseph S. Nye Jr. announced last week. He will replace current Academic Dean David Ellwood who has stepped down from the position to devote himself to research on welfare and poverty.

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

"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. "In my own career I've tried to demonstrate that serious scholarship, a commitment to hands-on teaching, and an involvement in policymaking on both the domestic and international level are not incompatible. Since that is the Kennedy School's view as well, I hope that this new responsibility and my particular experiences will turn out to be a good fit."

Schauer's teaching and writing focus on constitutional law, freedom of speech and press, political philosophy, the philosophy of law, and legal constraints on policymaking. The author or co-author of five books, including Free Speech: A Philosophical Enquiry, which was awarded a Certificate of Merit by the American Bar Association in 1983, his writings also include "Slippery Slopes" in the Harvard Law Review and "Formalism" in the Yale Law Journal, as well as articles in various philosophy journals.

Actively involved in projects on constitutional and legal development in Estonia, Mongolia, South Africa, Australia, Taiwan, and Belarus, Schauer has also lectured extensively on legal and constitutional transformation in Chile, Spain, New Zealand, Hungary, Israel, Finland, and Canada. He frequently appears before various congressional committees on issues relating to freedom of speech and other questions of constitutional law.

Schauer will officially assume the office of academic dean on July 1.