Recently in Alumni News

Alumni commented at PAW Online on a June 2 story on Princeton’s fraternities and sororities. “All we heard at Reunions was how one couldn’t get into this eating club or that one unless one pledged the ‘right’ sorority or fraternity. Ban them!” said John Ward ’75.

Richard Cummings ’59 commented that the Greek organizations “bring out the worst tendencies of those who consider themselves privileged. The pledge system is revolting. We have clubs. That’s enough.”

Questions raised about the future of the Dinky in the May 12 cover story, “Where town meets gown,” also brought responses. “Never give up the Dinky,” wrote Gordon Schwartz ’56, who added: “It is a Princeton tradition. I am sure you could find alumni support to keep it going.” Jim LaRegina, a University employee, noted a proposal to replace the Dinky with bus service and asked: “Will a bus run on time, let alone at all, in snow and ice conditions such as we had in the 2010 winter, as the Dinky did?”

In a recent interview, award-winning scientist Elaine Fuchs *77 discussed the wonders of skin cells. [New York Times]

Former basketball star Brian Taylor ’84 was spotlighted for his work as school administrator in Los Angeles. [Voice of America]

After graduation, Peter Dunbar ’10 rode his bike home — all the way to Oxford, Miss., in a span of three weeks. [Oxford Eagle — registration required; Dunbar’s blog]

A local feature story explores the University’s thesis catalog — and what it tells us about famous alumni like Elena Kagan ’81, Michelle Obama ’85, and former New Jersey Gov. Thomas Kean ’57. [Star-Ledger]

If you’ve watched any games from this year’s World Cup, you’ve probably heard the hum of vuvuzelas, the long plastic stadium horns favored by South African fans and visitors alike. For the past few weeks, a handful of alumni soccer fans have been contributing their own sort of buzz on the blog Yankee Vuvuzela, a creation of two former Princeton soccer players: occasional PAW contributor Giles Morris ’97 and classmate Jeff Plunkett ’97.

Morris and Plunkett played for U.S. national team coach Bob Bradley ’80 when Bradley was at Princeton, and they have recruited former teammates John Talbott ’94, Tyson Hom ’95, and Lee Topar ’95 to chip in thoughts about Bradley’s coaching style and the U.S. team’s World Cup run. Former Princeton basketball star Mitch Henderson ’98, an avid soccer fan, also is a contributor.

The blog’s authors provide opinions, analysis, and humor — some of it self-deprecating. Morris’ bio, for example, recounts how Bradley responded to a defensive misstep in a game against Seton Hall:

“After the game, Coach Bradley told Giles he lacked competitive maturity and benched him for the rest of the season. Giles did not let that affect their relationship, however, visiting Bradley’s open office hours frequently to contribute to the running philosophical discourse on the beautiful game with comments like, ‘Some players are better in games than in practice,’ and ‘I see myself in the mold of a Finidi George [the former Ajax midfielder].’ Needless to say Coach Bradley was not shaken from his own philosophical foundation and pressed Giles to obtain skills like tackling, shooting, and passing.”

(Photo courtesy PicApp.com)

Photos by T. Kevin Birch. Click on each image for a larger version.

Photos by Katherine Federici Greenwood and Mark F. Bernstein ’83. Click on each image for a larger version.

Click here for more snapshots from Reunions 2010.

At left, the Class of 1960 gathered at Nassau Hall Friday morning for the dedication of its class Ivy. Reunions festivities kicked off May 27 and will continue through May 30, followed by Baccalaureate, Class Day, and Commencement for the Class of 2010.

Check The Weekly Blog next week for highlights from Reunions and Commencement.

(Photo by Brett Tomlinson)

Nine Princeton undergraduate alumni are CEOs at Standard and Poor’s 500 companies, which places the University seventh in a recent ranking compiled by Bloomberg Businessweek.

According to Bloomberg Businessweek, the nine Tigers counted in the list were: Jeff Bezos ’86 (Amazon), David Crane ’81 (NRG Energy), John C. Donahue ’71 (Federated Investors), John Finnegan ’71 (Chubb), Andrea Jung ’77 (Avon Products), James Kennedy ’75 (T. Rowe Price), David King ’77 (Laboratory Corp. of America), John “Larry” Nichols ’64 (Devon Energy), and Eric Schmidt ’76 (Google).

The top five producers of CEOs included four state schools — California, Missouri, Texas, and Wisconsin — along with Harvard, which tied for second place with 11. Bloomberg compiled data for 502 CEOs (two S&P 500 companies have co-CEOs). Twelve of the corporate leaders did not complete college degrees, and Bloomberg was unable to obtain information about 10 others.

Of the colleges in the top 10, only Dartmouth (No. 6, 10 CEOs) has a smaller undergraduate enrollment than Princeton. All eight Ivy League institutions have at least three S&P 500 CEOs among their alumni (see chart).

PAW’s 2010 Reunions Guide is now available in PDF format.

Several stories also can be viewed on The Weekly Blog, and printed copies of the guide will be available at class reunion registration areas.

For up-to-date information about all Reunions events, including the alumni-faculty forums, visit the Alumni Association website. The Alumni Association’s Reunions Mobile site is available at http://m.princeton.edu/reunions/.

The cover of the 2010 Reunions Guide was created with AndreaMosaic. The tiger image is from iStockPhoto.com, and the individual tiles are Reunions photos by T. Kevin Birch.

The following story is included in PAW's 2010 Reunions Guide, available on campus May 27.

DEDICATION For Bob Tritsch ’47, above, there's "an element of habit" that goes along with Reunions. He and classmate Koke Kokatnur both have perfect attendance since graduation and plan to be back for number 63 this year. (Photo by Frank Wojciechowski)

EDUCATION Whether delving into Dante or listening to foreign-policy debates, each May brings engaging programs that fill the seats at Alexander Hall and elsewhere. And the best part: No exams. (Photo courtesy flickr.com/photos/joeshlabotnik)

CREATIVITY Reunions committees continue to surprise with new themes and costumes, but the outfits that turn heads often are one-of-a-kind -- homemade headwear, Tiger-striped dog sweaters, or a pair of custom cowboy boots. (Photo by T. Kevin Birch)

The following story is included in PAW’s 2010 Reunions Guide, available on campus May 27.

By Jennifer Albinson ’05

Illustration by Hadley Hooper

Jennifer Albinson ’05 teaches first grade at Malcolm X Academy in San Francisco.

It hit me one winter day in my first year out of Princeton. Like so many classmates, I was living in New York. Unlike so many classmates, at that moment, I was in an elementary school cafeteria, scooping pickles onto a 5-year-old’s lunch tray and then taking a few back when she squealed “Too many!” As I offered her a spoonful of corn, I said to myself, “Seriously, is this how I’m using my Princeton degree?” And, with no one but the 5-year-old to respond to my question, I spoke up again. “I think the answer is apparently ‘yes.’ ”

The “apparently yes” moments have been plentiful, especially as an elementary school teacher. They have ranged from the poignant (despairing that my training in Latin American history hadn’t prepared me to handle a situation with a student and her potentially abusive mother) to the disgusting (mopping a child’s regurgitated lunch off my classroom floor). Sometimes the Princeton banner on my classroom wall just fades into the background, indistinguishable from the artwork and colorful charts that surround it. Other times, it’s like a bright orange billboard, announcing to me and anyone else who will listen that “only people who’ve actually used their degree deserve to go to Reunions.”

The following story is included in PAW’s 2010 Reunions Guide, available on campus May 27.

Major-reunion visitors who haven’t been on campus for five years are sure to notice a few prominent additions. PAW provides this walking tour to help you get acquainted with the University’s newest (or most-recently refurbished) buildings, including one that is nearing completion. The tour begins near Elm Drive, at the site of the former pagoda tennis courts.

1. Whitman College (2007) Designed by Demetri Porphyrios *80, this fresh interpretation of collegiate gothic offers new views that seem familiar. Recent alumni will enjoy the one-word inscription on the walkway outside Hargadon Hall — “YES!” — and fans of Princeton’s arts community may want to visit the Class of 1970 Theater, in 1981 Hall. Other interior spaces worth seeing include Community Hall’s main dining area and the two adjacent private dining rooms.

2. New Butler College (2009) Five new red-brick dorms have replaced the New New Quad, which was razed shortly after Reunions in 2007. Designed by Henry Cobb of Pei Cobb Freed & Partners, the buildings are “subtly sophisticated,” according to University Architect Ron McCoy. A grass-ramped amphitheater overlooks Butler College Memorial Court, which honors the classes for which the college’s previous dorms were named — 1922, 1940, 1941, and 1942.

The following story is included in PAW’s 2010 Reunions Guide, available on campus May 27.

Courtesy Princeton University Archives

Student publications from the last 175 years take center stage in “Princetonians in Print,” an exhibition at the Seeley G. Mudd Manuscript Library that chronicles the history and variety of student journalism and creative writing at Princeton. Items on display include the Nov. 10, 1917, issue of The Princeton Tiger, right, which included “The Staying Up All Night,” an F. Scott 
Fitzgerald ’17 poem about an evening of campus revelry.

A new exhibit of “Pictures of Pictures,” opening May 28 at the Princeton University Art Museum, explores the diverse tradition of nested imagery in prints, photographs, collages, paintings, and sculptures.

The Triangle Club performs its Reunions encore of the shopping spoof Store Trek at McCarter Theatre May 28 and 29. For tickets, visit the McCarter box office or mccarter.org.