Babson College Trustees Elect B-School Professor President

Ralph Z. Sorenson II, associate professor of Business Administration, yesterday was named president of Babson College, a business-oriented college in Wellesley.

A year-long search to replace president Henry A. Kriebel, who is retiring, culminated in Sorenson's election by Babson's board of trustees last Friday.

Kriebel said yesterday that Babson is "delighted" with the selection of Sorenson, an international marketing specialist who has taught at the Business School since 1965.

Sorenson said last night his first priority as president will be to "institute a new round of master planning to set objectives for Babson and to map the strategy for achieving them."

He said that this planning process "must be cooperative and involve all constituencies of the school."

The college is now in the final year of a five-year plan that has resulted in expansion of programs and facilities while maintaining sound financial policies, he said.

Enrollment at the college has also increased during this period, and Sorenson sees a continuation of this trend.

"Babson has great potential because its management program is of interest to the growing number of students with career orientation," he said.

Babson Now Enrolls

Babson currently has an enrollment of 1100 undergraduates, 800 full-time graduate students and an additional 1000 part-time graduate students.

Lawrence E. Fouraker, dean of the Business School, last night called Sorenson "a distinguished educator and a superb administrator."

He said Sorenson's "human and administrative skills are best exemplified by the crucial role he played in organizing the Asian Institute of Management."

Sorenson was the director of a Harvard advisory group which went to the Philippines in 1966 to organize the Institute, which offers graduate-level courses in business administration.