A High Commerce Post

Dean Myron Tribus of Thayer School has been named Assistant Secretary of Commerce for Science and Technology, effective April 1. In his new position he is responsible for the activities of the Bureau of Standards, the Patent Office, and the Environmental Science Services Administration, which includes the Weather Bureau, the Coast and Geodetic Survey, the Environmental Data Service, the National Environmental Satellite Center, and the Research Laboratory at Boulder, Colo. About two-thirds of the Commerce Department's 30,000 employees are engaged in these operational and research activities.

Dean Tribus has been granted a leave of absence from the Thayer School, which he has headed since 1961. Associate Dean George A. Colligan is serving as Acting Dean of the School.

For the past two years Dean Tribus has been a member of the Commerce Technical Advisory Board, which advises the Secretary of Commerce on public policy and technology. He is also serving as chairman of a panel of experts studying new approaches to alleviating the nation's housing shortage. The committee report, jointly sponsored by the Commerce, Defense, and Housing and Urban Development Departments, is due later this year.

In his eight years as head of Dartmouth's Thayer School, Dean Tribus has become nationally known for his original work in revamping American engineering education, with emphasis on design and the economic and social factors that are related to problem-solving.