Ending nine months of rumor and speculation, President Bok formally announced yesterday that on July 1 Chairman of the Economics Department A. Michael Spence will move into University Hall and take over as dean of the Faculty of Arts and Sciences (FAS).

"The opportunity to serve [as dean] is certainly the most exciting and challenging event in my professional life," the 40-year-old specialist in industrial relations said at an afternoon press conference with Bok at Massachusetts Hall.

In the past decade, Spence's work has earned him an international reputation for excellence, said colleagues, some of whom speculated that he might have soon been in line for a Nobel Prize.

But Spence said, "To make a great institution continue to be great just appealed to me so much that I have relatively little difficulty deciding that I ought to do it."

He will officially take over his new duties at the end of the current academic year, when Henry Rosovsky steps down after 11 years to return to full-time teaching and research of Japanese economics.

Unusual

Bok called Spence "a very unusual person. He is someone who has really excelled at an extraordinarily high level at anything he's ever attempted."

The president cited the new dean's modesty and teaching ability, and he said that Spence had impressed him as someone who was not limited to a single academic discipline, but was interested in many different fields.

"I think it's very important that the dean be somebody who is respected by the Faculty as someone who is very good at the kinds of things the Faculty quite properly holds dear," said Bok.

Spence's appointment comes after reports that he was actually Bok's second choice after someone else turned down the job. Bok, in an interview before the formal announcement, refused to comment on the speculation.

Spence is the third straight economist appointed to fill what is generally considered to be Harvard's second most important academic post, succeeding Rosovsky and Lamont University Professor John T. Dunlop. There had been widespread Faculty speculation that Bok might appoint the first scientist ever in fill the post, but said in the end the decision came was best qualified for the job.

"I think that Mike would agree that be is being appointed not because to is an economist but if anything in spite of the fact that he is an economist," said Bok.

Chairman of the Chemistry Departures Richard H. Holm said yesterday." All things being equal, it's about time the FAS and someone from the sciences, but the present dean has had a very good chemistry with the sciences."

Spence will learn the ins and outs of his new job by meeting regularly with his predecessor over the next few months. Rosovsky said he would review all the departments, appointment procedures, the budget, and the problems of graduate and undergraduate education with Spence.

"I'm just going to give him a suspired in deaning," said Rosovsky.

At yesterday's press conference, Spence discussed some of the main issues he will confront in his new job, including sexual harassment, curriculum, minority representation, and computerization.