Ronald L. Taylor, director of the Institute for African-American Studies and a professor of sociology, has been named vice provost for multicultural affairs for a three-year appointment, effective August 1.

Taylor will be the first person to fill the position on a permanent basis and will be responsible for "blending the administrative function of vice provost with the mandates of the strategic plan in multicultural matters," said Mark A. Emmert, chancellor, and Fred J. Maryanski, interim chancellor, in a memo to the University community.

Taylor "is a person highly capable of assuming and exerting a leadership role in multicultural affairs," they said. "He will play a major role in achieving the goal which we all share: assuring the vitality, diversity, and academic and social excellence of the University."

An interim director will be named to head the institute.

Taylor, who is also chair of the search committee for chancellor, is a former chair of the sociology department. He came to UConn in 1972 from the Army Bureau of Research at Fort Devens, and had been a lecturer at Metropolitan College of Boston University. He had served as director of financial aid and dean of men at Bethune- Cookman College in Daytona Beach, Fla., and is listed in Who's Who Among Black Americans.

Taylor has held fellowships from the National Endowment for the Humanities and the Ford Foundation, and was co-director of the Consortium of Research on Black Adolescents from 1988-1993. He is editor of the Journal of Race and Society; associate editor of the Journal of Research on Adolescents; and a member of the National Advisory Council for the National Teen Action Research Center in Hartford.

Taylor also is the author, co-author or editor of numerous articles, chapters and books.

He holds a B.A. in history from Bethune-Cookman College; an M.A. in sociology from Howard University; and a Ph.D. in sociology from Boston University.

Karen A. Grava