Five Princeton alumni were named to US Rowing's 2008 Olympic roster June 27. Paul Teti ’01 will row in his third consecutive Olympics, this time with the men's four. Lia Pernell ’03 will compete with the women's quadruple sculls. Caroline Lind ’06 will be a member of the women's eight, and classmate Steven Coppola ’06 will join the men's eight. Simon Carcagno ’98 was selected as an alternate on the men's team.
Alumnus Sam Loch ’06 was chosen for the Australian men's eight earlier this year, and Olympic veteran Andreanne Morin ’06 is a candidate for the Canadian women's eight. Olympic rowing events will begin August 9 at the Shunyi Olympic Rowing-Canoeing Park in the Shunyi district of Beijing.

Follow Princeton alumni and students at the U.S. Olympic Track and Field Trials in Eugene, Ore., June 27-July 6, and the U.S. Olympic Swimming Trials in Omaha, Neb., June 29-July 6.

In track and field, NCAA All-American Cack Ferrell ’06 will run the women's 5,000 meters (semifinals - June 30, 8:50 p.m.; finals - July 4, 8:55 p.m.), and Tora Harris ’02, a 2004 Olympic team member and 2006 USA outdoor champion, will compete in the men's high jump (qualifying - July 3, 7:25 p.m.; final - July 5, 12:55 p.m.).

The swimming trials will feature eight current or future Tigers, led by multi-talented star Alicia Aemisegger ’10, a qualifier in six events (100-meter butterfly, 200-meter freestyle, 200-meter butterfly, 200-meter breaststroke, 800-meter freestyle, and 200-meter individual medley). Other athletes slated to compete: Courtney Kilkuts ’10, 200-meter individual medley; Meredith Monroe ’11, 100- and 200-meter backstroke; Jillian Altenburger ’12, 200-meter individual medley; Will Schaffer ’09, 200-meter individual medley; Mike Carter ’09, 100-meter freestyle; Dan Eckel ’09, 200-meter butterfly; and Colin Hanna ’11, 200-meter individual medley.

Pianist Andy Luse ’02 founded a concert series, Classics on the Rocks, two years ago to attract young adults to classical music performances. Luse and his colleagues have been drawing in younger crowds by spicing up the traditional classical music experience. Presented cabaret-style in small venues like restaurant lounges and clubs in the Washington, D.C., area, the concerts mix jazz, pop, and other styles with classical compositions.
The next performance will take Classics on the Rocks outdoors July 9 at Strathmore, an arts center in North Bethesda, Md. The concert will feature the Dvorak Piano Quintet and a flute-marimba combo with percussionist Paul Fadoul. For more information, visit www.classicsontherocks.com. By Katherine Federici Greenwood

More at PAW Online

PAW's Web Exclusives for the June 11 issue include:
Songs from Rackett, the rock band that features professors Nigel Smith and Paul Muldoon. Click here to listen and here to read an interview with Smith.
A profile of alumna Lauren (Holuba) Nelson ’04, who received the Shield of Sparta: Heroine of the Infantry, the highest honor given to a military spouse by the National Infantry Association. Click here to read more
The story of the Fred Almgren ’55 Memorial Relay, an annual competition in which mathematicians from Princeton and Rutgers run from Fine Hall to New Brunswick. Click here to read more
Gregg Lange ’70's Rally ’Round the Cannon column, covering an important transition in the history of Prospect Avenue. Click here to read more

Names in the news

Sports Illustrated featured Oregon State basketball coach Craig Robinson ’83 in a June 3 story that covered the challenges of his new job and life on the campaign trail with his sister, Michelle Obama ’85, and her famous husband. ... In other Obama news, Princeton astrophysics professor J. Richard Gott III *73 and a colleague have deduced, using statistical analysis of polls, that if the general election had been held in late May, the presumptive Democratic nominee would have lost to John McCain, while McCain would have lost to Hillary Clinton. ... The Sacramento Bee profiled minor league baseball star Will Venable ’05 and his father, Max, the hitting coach for Will's team, the Portland Beavers. ... An eye-popping final ride in the freestyle kayak event propelled Dustin Urban ’07 to a first-place finish at the Teva Mountain Games in Vail, Colo., June 7. Among the winning moves, according to the Vail Daily: an air wheel, 360-loops in both directions, and a McNasty followed by a monster loop.

Farewell for the summer

This edition of The Weekly Blog is the last of the academic year. The final print edition of PAW, featuring coverage of Reunions and Commencement, will be published July 16. The Weekly Blog will return Sept. 17.
Visit the PAW Web site for Reunions videos, slide shows, and breaking summer news.

Reunions 2008 draws 20,000

With more than 20,000 alumni, family members, and friends attending Reunions Weekend, it may seem difficult for one person to stand out in the crowd. But Malcolm Warnock ’25, left, drew a remarkable amount of attention in Saturday's P-rade.
Carrying the Class of 1923 Cane as the oldest alumnus at Reunions (for the fourth time), Warnock rode through campus to waves of applause and cheers. He is 102 years old, set to turn 103 later this month, and the next-oldest alumni in the P-rade were nine years behind him in school. But Warnock did not see reason for all the fuss. "I have received today more completely unwarranted attention than I have ever received in my life," he said.
The Class of 1983 led the P-rade as this year's 25th reunion class, and its reunion was the first to be held at Whitman College. Co-chairman Steve Simcox ’83 summed up the new site in one word: "spectacular." While bands played and class members danced in the Class of 1963 Courtyard, others found a spot for quiet conversations and coffee breaks a staircase away in the Chester Courtyard, where baristas were on duty from morning to midnight.
Photos by T. Kevin Birch

Remembering 1968

Forty years ago this week, the normally festive Princeton Reunions took on a sober tone as visitors mourned the assassination of Sen. Robert F. Kennedy. Kennedy's funeral train passed through Princeton Junction on Reunions Weekend, bringing the tragedy of the previous Tuesday evening even closer to the thoughts of alumni.
The University cancelled the annual alumni baseball game and rerouted the P-rade to keep festivities on campus, ending the procession at Blair Arch, where the Alumni Association held what William A.B. Paul, the secretary for the Class of 1918, called in his PAW Class Notes column a "dignified meeting" followed by "thoughtful discussions about the turbulent conditions today and those student agitators who are so hard for old Princetonians to underst0and."
Duncan van Dusen ’58 wrote in PAW's Class Notes that while Kennedy's death caused a drop in Reunions attendance, there were some positive returns for those who came to campus. "The modified schedule of events provoked much discussion about the future of the United States, where we are going, and where we ought to be going," he wrote. "Liberals, moderates, and reactionaries, all equally concerned, exchanged ideas without blows, often nearing agreement if not as to programs, at least as to the problems."

Answers to the Reunions 2008
Princetoniana Challenge

Congratulations to Ashley Prescott ’06 and Jonathan Sapan ’04, who each scored a perfect 10-for-10 on the Princetoniana Challenge. Both winners received copies of The Best of PAW: 100 Years of the Princeton Alumni Weekly, edited by J.I. Merritt ’66. For readers who were stumped by the quiz, an annotated list of answers is printed below.

Where is...

1. A building that once served as the nation's capitol for the Continental Congress?
Nassau Hall served as the headquarters of the Continental Congress from July-October 1783.
2. This display containing skeletons of a modern and a prehistoric tiger?
The skeletons of a modern Bengal tiger and of its evolutionary predecessor, a 28,000-year-old Smilodon or saber-tooth tiger, are on display at the Frist Campus Center, 100 level, by the windows at the rear.
3. The "Fountain of Freedom," in the center of which is one of the largest bronze castings in the world?
The Fountain of Freedom was designed by James Fitzgerald in 1966 and rises from the Scudder Plaza pool in front of Robertson Hall.
4. The grave of Nathaniel FitzRandolph, donor of Princeton's original campus?
It is under the eastern arch of Holder Hall and Rockefeller Hall, and there is a plaque explaining the significance of the site. FitzRandolph solicited donations of land and money and donated some of his own land as well. His family's burial ground was here.
5. This parking garage, which won a design award from the American Institute of Architects?
The parking garage is next to Bowen Hall at 70 Prospect Avenue (between Olden and Murray Place). Built in 1991 and designed by Machado Silvetti Associates (Boston), the garage won a design award in 1993 from the American Institute of Architects.
6. The statue of a dean who argued about the location of the Graduate School with a future president of the United States--and won the argument?
A statue of Andrew Fleming West (class of 1874), first dean of the Graduate School, is in the Thompson courtyard of the Old Graduate College. Although Woodrow Wilson, as president of Princeton, wanted to build the Graduate College in the main part of campus, West thought that it should have a separate location. West won the argument in 1910 when alumnus Isaac Wyman (Class of 1848) died, leaving a bequest that helped to fund West's plan. "We've beaten the living," said Wilson to his wife, Ellen, "but we can't beat the dead."
7. A building in the shape of an octagon?
The octagonal Chancellor Green building, designed by William A. Potter and dedicated in 1873 as Princeton's first freestanding library, is now part of the Andlinger Center for the Humanities.
8. This stained-glass window, called the "Seven Liberal Arts Window"?
The Seven Liberal Arts Window, designed by William and Annie Lee Willet, is at the west end of Procter Hall at the Graduate College.
9. A flag from the aircraft carrier U.S.S. Princeton IV, which sank during a battle in 1944?
The flag is in the University Chapel. It came from the aircraft carrier U.S.S. Princeton IV, which was commissioned in 1942 and had one of the most distinguished service records among Navy ships during World War II until it was sunk in 1944 during the Second Battle in the Philippine Sea. James Forrestal, class of 1915, presented the ship's flag to the University when he was Secretary of the Navy in 1944-45.
10. This word carved into the pavement?
This inscription is on the path from the Dinky to the new Whitman College. It refers to the wording of the letter sent to accepted applicants during the 1988-2003 tenure of Dean of Admission Fred Hargadon. A dormitory at Whitman College is named in honor of Dean Hargadon.
Images courtesy of the Princetoniana Committee. Visit the Princetoniana section of the Princeton University Website for more Princeton lore.

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Marching back in orange and black

Reunions 2008 promises to combine annual favorites, like the P-rade, alumni-faculty forums, and fireworks, with a few new additions. The Class of 1983 will host the first reunion at Whitman College, alumni musicians will face off in friendly competition at the first Battle of the Bands, and University officials will talk with alumni about plans for the renovated Princeton Campus Club, scheduled to open in the fall.
PAW's 2008 Reunions Guide, available at registration desks, includes brief previews of the major reunions, a feature about the comfort foods that fuel students' study breaks, profiles of alumni Ward Chamberlin ’43 and Kelly Arnold ’83, a crossword puzzle from Graham Meyer ’01, a story about David Rieff ’78's latest book, an article about a successful alumni ice hockey squad, and more. UPDATE [May 29]: The 2008 Reunions Guide is now available online.
The P-rade begins Saturday, May 31, at 2 p.m. Reuners can check this year's route and find the meeting places for the major classes on the interactive map below.

Reunions photo by T. Kevin Birch

Speaking with the experts

Leaders from government, law, the sciences, and other fields will talk about hot topics and answer questions at panel discussions and presentations during Reunions. Notable alumni scheduled to speak include White House Chief of Staff Joshua B. Bolten ’76 ("The Executive Office of the President: Theory and Practice," May 30, 2 p.m., Robertson bowl 16); Hong Kong entrepreneur Sir Gordon Y.S. Wu ’58 ("What to Do About Free Trade and China," May 30, 2:30 p.m., McCosh 50); and Georgetown men's basketball coach John Thompson III ’88 ("Is There an Honor Code in Sports?," May 30, 9:15 a.m., McCosh 50). To read detailed daily calendars of Reunions events from the Alumni Association, follow these links:
Thursday, May 29 | Friday, May 30 | Saturday, May 31 | Sunday, June 1

PAW-litics 101: The reading list

On Friday, May 30, PAW will host its first Reunions panel discussion, "PAW-litics 101," at 1:30 p.m. in the Frist Campus Center's air-conditioned Film/Performance Theater (room 301). The event will provide an insider's look at the 2008 presidential campaign from alumni journalists. To read some of what the panelists have been writing about this year's candidates, follow the links below.
Todd Purdum ’82, the national editor at Vanity Fair wrote a feature story about John McCain in February 2007 and another about Barack Obama in March 2008. Purdum also talks politics on the VF Daily blog.
Reporters Kathy Kiely ’77 and Juliet Eilperin ’92 each have written extensively about the campaign. Click here for a list of links to Kiely's USA Today stories and here for links to Eilperin's Washington Post articles.
PAW-litics panelists also have published their insights on blogs, including ABC News' The Note, written by Rick Klein ’98; Newsweek's Stumper, written by Andrew Romano ’04, and Achenblog, the home page of PAW-litics moderator and Washington Post reporter Joel Achenbach ’82.

Looking back at the 2007 P-rade

For more PAW videos, visit PAW's YouTube channel, youtube.com/PAWstaff.

The Countdown:

Day until Reunions 2008

On Jan. 9, 2008, Alicia Soderberg, a postdoctoral research associate in astrophysics at Princeton, was studying the X-ray emissions conveyed from space by NASA's Swift satellite when she recognized an extremely bright light on the screen of her computer, saturating the satellite's view "as if we had pointed a digital camera directly at the sun." That light, Soderberg and colleague Edo Berger later confirmed, was a supernova — an explosion of a massive star.
Seeing a supernova is not unusual — the stars are brighter than 100 billion suns. But in the vastness of space, there generally is a delay of days or weeks between a supernova's explosion and its discovery by astronomers. By then, "most of the fireworks are already over," Soderberg said.
Soderberg is the first astronomer to observe a supernova in the act of exploding. Her finding, named Supernova 2008D, is described in a paper to be published in Nature May 22, and in a May 21 teleconference, she described the experience as being at the right place, at the right time, with the right telescope. "I truly won the astronomer's lottery," she said.
Soderberg had been studying another supernova, SN 2007uy, in the spiral galaxy NGC 2770, located 90 million light years from Earth in the constellation Lynx. Seeing two supernovae in the same galaxy in a matter of weeks is extraordinarily unusual — a one-in-10,000 chance, she estimates. A typical galaxy produces one supernova every 100 years.
The Princeton group's discovery sparked a campaign of observations from telescopes in the United States and beyond, including the Hubble Space Telescope.
The use of an X-ray flash, rather than optical observation, to detect a supernova marks a "paradigm shift" and could lead to more discoveries, according to Robert Kirshner, a professor of astronomy at Harvard University and one of Soderberg's mentors. Kirshner also stressed that luck was only part of Soderberg's find. "If you're active and you're energetic, it helps a lot because you manufacture your own luck, in a way," he said. "There's nobody who's more focused and energetic than Alicia Soderberg."



Courtesy of NASA/Swift/Skyworks Digital/Dana Berry

This digital animation shows an artist's rendering of the shock wave discovered by Princeton University's Alicia Soderberg and a team of scientists. A supernova is born when the core of a massive star (the blue orb) runs out of nuclear fuel and collapses under its own gravity to form an ultradense object known as a neutron star. The shock wave erupts and ripples through the star, emitting X-rays (seen here as bright white light). The remnants of the explosion cool (the white light gets smaller), and then the visual light from the supernova glows (seen as yellow clouds). The fading white dot in the middle of the animation represents a newly born neutron star.


Correction: An earlier version of this post misstated the frequency at which supernovae occur in a galaxy. It is about once every 100 years.

Down and up, 1,000 times

On May 5, with his hands pressed against the hardwood of the Princeton Seminary gym, Ryan Bonfiglio ’01 completed 1,000 push-ups in 20 minutes and 50 seconds, besting a mark from The Guinness Book of World Records set by fitness guru Jack LaLanne on the national television show You Asked For It in 1956.
The high-speed push-ups, completed in sets of 25, were recorded by a digital camera that also captured Bonfiglio's "official timer" - a wristwatch positioned on the floor.
Bonfiglio, a former Princeton wrestler, is not new to breaking world records. In 2004, he set the record for most pull-ups in one hour: 507. That record was broken when a competitor chinned-up over 600 times in 60 minutes. Bonfiglio contested the mark, arguing that chin-ups and pull-ups use different muscles and therefore are different exercises, but the Guinness Book officials were firm in their refusal to differentiate.
LaLanne's "quickest completion of 1,000 push-ups" category has been retired by the The Guinness Book of World Records, so Bonfiglio is looking to challenge a related mark: most push-ups in one hour. Record-holder Roy Berger, a Canadian who was proclaimed "Mr. Push-up" by Muscle & Fitness Magazine, completed 3,416 push-ups in an hour in 1998.
Photo courtesy of Benjamin Robinson

Names in the News

With the Boston Celtics rolling toward the NBA's Eastern Conference finals, ESPN told the story of how Celtics CEO Wyc Grousbeck ’83 came back home to Boston and stepped into one of the most cherished corner offices in town. ... Wendy Kopp ’89's Teach for America continues to grow, according to a recent AP report, and Kopp expects even more expansion in the next two years, as the group aims to increase its corps of first- and second-year teachers from 5,000 to 8,000. ... Princeton musicologist Simon Morrison *97 is helping to revive Prokoviev's ballet "Romeo and Juliet" for a series of July performances at Bard College. ... Two hundred years ago, China was the world's greatest economic power, Princeton economics professor Burton Malkiel *64 told CFAs at a recent conference. Malkiel expects that China will regain that position in the next 20 years. ... William Zinsser ’44 wrote a May 18 New York Times essay about the most peculiar Manhattan office he ever occupied and its most memorable perk: a fireman's pole that connected the fifth and fourth floors.

The Countdown:

Days until Reunions 2008

Think you know the Princeton campus? The Princetoniana Committee has a quiz for you. Before you march in the P-rade, use your walking shoes and the help of friends and family members to track down answers to these 10 questions. Each object, architectural detail, building, or place is located on campus, stretching from the Graduate College to the E-Quad. Send your answers to PAW for a chance to win one of our prizes. Entries must be received before June 4, when we will post the answers on The Weekly Blog.

Where is...

1. A building that once served as the nation's capitol for the Continental Congress?

2. This display containing skeletons of a modern and a prehistoric tiger?



3. The "Fountain of Freedom," in the center of which is one of the largest bronze castings in the world?

4. The grave of Nathaniel FitzRandolph, donor of Princeton's original campus?

5. This parking garage, which won a design award from the American Institute of Architects?


6. The statue of a dean who argued about the location of the Graduate School with a future president of the United States--and won the argument?

7. A building in the shape of an octagon?

8. This stained-glass window, called the "Seven Liberal Arts Window"?



9. A flag from the aircraft carrier U.S.S. Princeton IV, which sank during a battle in 1944?

10. This word carved into the pavement?





Images courtesy of the Princetoniana Committee. Visit the Princetoniana section of the Princeton University Website for more Princeton lore.

Inside PAW-litics

PAW will host its first Reunions panel discussion, "PAW-litics 101," on Friday, May 30, at 1:30 p.m. in the Frist Campus Center's air-conditioned Film/Performance Theater (room 301). The event will provide an insider's look at the 2008 presidential campaign from alumni journalists Jim Kelly ’76, managing editor of Time Inc.; Kathy Kiely ’77, a reporter for USA Today; moderator Joel Achenbach '82 of The Washington Post; Todd Purdum ’82, national editor at Vanity Fair; Juliet Eilperin ’92, a reporter at The Washington Post; Rick Klein ’98, senior political reporter for ABC News; and Andrew Romano ’04, an associate editor at Newsweek.
More information about the full calendar of Reunions events can be found online at the Alumni Association's Web site.

Reading period

John Edwards ’08 catches up on some reading on Cannon Green May 7, during the spring semester reading period. Spring finals begin May 14.
Photo by Frank Wojciechowski

Seniors honored for top research

Since 2004, the Princeton Undergraduate Research Symposium has provided students with a chance to share some of what they have learned in their independent work with a wider audience - and win prizes in the process.
This year, 42 undergraduates participated in the event's poster presentations, held in the Carl Icahn Lab atrium March 7. Contestants were judged on a range of criteria that included creativity, scientific thought, demonstration of skill, and communication. Biology and engineering were the most popular categories, drawing 20 and 15 entrants, respectively. Molecular biology concentrator Ryan Corces-Zimmerman ’08 earned the top overall prize and first place in the biology category for his study on how a specific protein affects the longevity of C. elegans, a worm commonly used in lab research. Jerry Moxley ’08, another biologist, placed second overall for his work examining how spotted antbirds search for their prey. Raleigh Martin ’08, a civil and environmental engineer who won the engineering category, placed third overall for his senior thesis examination of Beijing's summer-season climatology.
Other honorees included Kevin Kung ’08, who earned first place in physical sciences and won the Interdisciplinary Award, and Catherine Digovich ’08, the first-place winner in social sciences.

The Countdown:

Days until Reunions 2008

Two years ago, Ann Herendeen ’77 was featured in a PAW story about alumni authors who had decided to self-publish books. Herendeen marketed her novel, Phyllida and the Brotherhood of Philander, with advertisements and press releases, but she told PAW that she did not have the "thick skin" required to sell books through those channels. As it turns out, she didn't need it.
A year-and-a-half after releasing her book, Herendeen received an e-mail from an editor at HarperCollins asking if the rights were available. Before long, she had a contract and a small advance. The newly packaged book — a romantic comedy about a rich gay gentleman, his wife, and his lover, set in early 19th-century England — was published in April to positive reviews. Library Journal called it "a brilliant exploration of love, sexuality, class, and gender, but above all, it is a wonderful love story."
Going from self-published author to "really published," Herendeen says, "feels like being Cinderella after her first visit from her fairy godmother. Now I get to go to the ball!" By Katherine Federici Greenwood

Names in the news

Alumnus Robert Caro ’57 and professors Paul Muldoon and Kwame Anthony Appiah will be among the eight scholars and artists inducted into the American Academy of Arts and Letters May 21. ... Boston Red Sox president and CEO Larry Lucchino ’67 will deliver the commencement address at Boston University May 18. ... Forbes profiled Thomas Wu ’94, a managing director of Hopewell Holdings in Hong Kong and son of Gordon Wu ’58. While Wu admitted that he has much to prove, in part because of his famous father, the magazine said he deserves credit for aiding Hopewell Holdings' recent turnaround.
The Sun-Times asked prominent women in Chicago what they would change if they ran the city. Ariel Capital president Mellody Hobson ’91 suggested adding a "financial literacy" program to the curriculum in public schools. ... In the May 12 New Yorker, Malcolm Gladwell highlighted the work of technology innovator and sometimes dinosaur-bone hunter Nathan Myhrvold *83. ... The Washington Post marked the passing of Pulitzer Prize-winning author William Warner ’43. Warner's first career was in the Foreign Service, but he became better-known for his writing, beginning in 1977 when the first of his four books, Beautiful Swimmers: Watermen, Crabs and the Chesapeake Bay, won the Pulitzer for nonfiction.

PAW on the ’Tube

PAW's online coverage of Reunions 2007 captured these scenes from the P-rade as well as other campus events that can be viewed at PAW's YouTube channel (youtube.com/PAWstaff) or on PAW's Web site. The YouTube channel also features archived PAW videos of the November 2006 bonfire, classic bonfires from 1926 and 1948, and coverage of Reunions 2006.
Other Princeton-related YouTube videos worth a look include footage of today's students playing intramural dodgeball and broomball, a brief clip of a 2007 University Orchestra concert in Budapest, the Princeton University Band's irreverent recruiting video, and a mid-1960s selection from I've Got a Secret with Steve Allen, featuring a classic Triangle Club kickline.

The Countdown:

Days until Reunions 2008

Softball | Tigers to face Harvard in Ivy Championship

Two dramatic come-from-behind wins against Cornell April 27 propelled Princeton softball to the Ivy League's South Division championship, and with an 18-2 league record, the Tigers also earned the right to host this weekend's best-of-three championship series against North Division-champ Harvard (14-6 Ivy). The winner earns a trip to the NCAA Championships.
Princeton has been explosive on offense, hitting a school-record 51 home runs this year, including 38 in Ivy games. Harvard aims to counter with strong pitching: Crimson pitchers have allowed just six home runs in 20 Ivy contests. The series will be played at Class of 1895 Field, with the first two games beginning May 3 at 12:30 p.m. and 2:30 p.m. The third game will be played May 4 at 12:30 p.m., if necessary.

Men's lacrosse | Postseason hopes hinge on finale

Princeton men's lacrosse has seen ups and downs in the last two weekends, upsetting then-No. 3 Cornell April 19 but losing at Dartmouth April 26. The Tigers still have the inside track for a share of the Ivy title and, with a tiebreaker over Cornell, the league's automatic bid to the NCAA Championships. But to claim that prize, Princeton must beat Brown May 3 in Providence. (Princeton, Brown, and Cornell each have one loss in Ivy play.)

Baseball | Miller ’08 holds Cornell hitless

Steven Miller ’08's final start as a Princeton pitcher had a rocky beginning: Two walks, an error, a hit batsman, and another walk in the first inning gave Cornell an early 2-0 lead. But Miller settled down, striking out 10 Big Red batters in seven innings and never allowing a hit in what would be a 3-2 Princeton victory April 27.
Miller was the first Tiger pitcher to throw a complete-game no-hitter since Randy Blevins ’73 accomplished the feat against Columbia in his senior year. Miller's win, he told The Daily Princetonian, "was probably the ugliest no-hitter that's ever been thrown. But to do that in my last collegiate start, that was definitely special."

Pie-eyed

Ryan Dowd ’11 takes a break from getting hit in the face with whipped-cream-and-fudge-syrup pies from a charity pie toss held April 26 at Communiversity, Princeton's town-gown street fair.
Photo by Frank Wojciechowski

A fresh Take on modern dance

Take Dance Company, a New York group with ties to two Princeton generations, will open its spring show May 15 at Columbia University's Miller Theater. Sharon Park ’02 and Kristen Arnold ’06 are among Take's principal dancers, and the group's board includes James Kraft ’57, who was instrumental in the company's founding four years ago, Henry Bessire ’57, and Louise Bessire, Henry's wife.
Take draws its name from Takehiro Ueyama, the company's founding choreographer and artistic director. "Dancing today can look like an exhausting dash to the finish line," Jennifer Dunning of The New York Times wrote in one review of Ueyama's work. "Mr. Ueyama brings a soft and silky calm and sunny sweetness to everything he does." For more information about Take's May 15, 16, and 17 shows, visit the company's Web site, takedanceny.com.

Answers to the April 23 Weekly Blog Quiz (Letter locales)

From: Frist Campus Center, which still bears the inscription of its former name, the Palmer Physical Laboratory.


From: The School of Architecture, recently renovated with a new glass entryway.


From: West College, which carries the labels "North West" and "South West" over its two entrances.

The Countdown:

Days until Reunions 2008

Do the letters above look familiar? Two of them should, if you spent four years on Princeton's campus. The "A" is a new addition. Identify the campus buildings from which the three letters were lifted, e-mail your answers to PAW, and win a prize - a vintage PAW poster. Answers will be posted in the April 30 Weekly Blog.

Burnett ’93 honored for Trying Leviathan

D. Graham Burnett ’93, an associate professor of history at Princeton, has won a 2007 New York City Book Award from the New York Society Library for Trying Leviathan: The Nineteenth-Century New York Court Case That Put the Whale on Trial and Challenged the Order of Nature (Princeton University Press). Burnett will receive the award, given annually to books that capture the essence of New York City, on May 14 at the New York Society Library. Trying Leviathan explores an 1818 trial that centered on the question of whether whales are fish. (PAW wrote about Burnett's book in the March 5, 2008 issue.)

Sports shorts

Softball | Princeton vies for division title

In an interview with PAW before the season, softball head coach Trina Salcido said she expected Kristen Schaus ’08 to bounce back from a 2007 season in which the pitcher's earned run average crept one run higher and her confidence waned. "She's changed her mental outlook and her whole perspective," Salcido said. "I think she's ready. She's done a great job in the off-season, preparing herself physically and being a leader."
Schaus has proved that on the field, compiling a 5-1 record and a 2.04 ERA against Ivy League opponents while striking out 47 batters in 44 2/3 innings pitched. This weekend, Schaus and the Tigers (15-1 in Ivy games) will take on Cornell (15-1) in a four-game series to determine the league's South Division champion. The first two games will be played at Cornell April 25. The final two will be on April 27 at Princeton's Class of 1895 Field, beginning at 12:30 p.m.

Women's golf | Aboff ’09 tops Ivy field

Seven birdies, 11 pars, and a league-record 65 in the opening round gave Princeton women's golf star Susannah Aboff ’09 an early lead at the Ivy League Championships April 19-20. She never looked back, winning the individual title with an 11-stroke lead over her nearest rival, 2007 champion Emily Balmert of Harvard. Princeton placed third in the team standings at the 54-hole event held at the Atlantic City Country Club.

Names in the news

The Los Angeles Times profiled Jacques-André Istel ’49, a "tireless wayfarer with an insatiable curiosity and no tolerance for boredom" who founded the town of Felicity, Calif., in the 1980s. ... On April 17, Anthony Shorris *79 resigned as executive director of the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey after a 16-month term in which he helped to oversee construction at the World Trade Center site, growth in the region's ports, and upgrades to the PATH rail system that connects New York with parts of northern New Jersey. ... The Harvard Crimson marked the passing of Henry C. Moses ’63, a former Harvard dean who more recently served as headmaster of Trinity School in New York City. ... Princeton Professor Robert Socolow was one of several experts cited in an Earth Day story about immediate changes that could help the environment. Among his suggestions were measures that could reduce travel, including congestion pricing in cities and videoconferencing for would-be business travelers.

The Countdown:

Days until Reunions 2008

"I Want You to Want Me," an interactive installation by Jonathan Harris ’02 and Sep Kamvar ’99 that explores the search for love in the world of online dating, is on view at New York's Museum of Modern Art, through May 12, as part of the museum's exhibit Design and the Elastic Mind.
The installation, displayed on a 56-inch touch screen, periodically collects data from online dating sites. Hundreds of blue and pink balloons float on the interactive screen, and each balloon represents a dating profile. Viewers can touch any balloon, causing a sentence to appear. The sentences begin with phrases like "I am ..." or "I am looking for ...."
On a Web site describing the work, Harris and Kamvar wrote that "'I Want You to Want Me' aims to be a mirror, in which people see reflections of themselves as they glimpse the lives of others." By Katherine Federici Greenwood

Photo: An image of "Who I am," the first movement of "I Want You to Want Me." Each balloon is a real dating profile. Image courtesy of Jonathan Harris ’02 and Sep Kamvar ’99

Names in the News

In an interview published April 4, Michael Aron *70, senior political correspondent for the NJN radio and television network, told The Times of Trenton that New Jersey politicians often follow a pattern of good intentions and bad timing. ... Ilya Shapiro ’99, a senior fellow in constitutional studies at the Cato Institute, critiqued the U.S. policy on H-1B visas - given to skilled workers - in a National Review column. ... Composer Steven Gerber *71's new CD, Spirituals, features 10 brief compositions for string orchestra and draws on African influences. ... In an NPR story about China's public image abroad, human rights campaigner John Kamm ’72 said that Chinese officials are more concerned with the opinion of the Chinese people, which remains positive. ... Woodrow Wilson School Dean Anne-Marie Slaughter ’80, who is living in Shanghai during a sabbatical year, described the contrast between Asian optimism and American pessimism in an April 14 NPR commentary. ... In The Hill, Democratic pollster Mark Mellman ’78 dissected the mistakes of presidential hopeful Sen. Hillary Clinton. "Clinton did have a macro-message early on -- experience," Mellman wrote. "It was just the wrong message. Every poll for two years demonstrated that Democrats prefer change over experience by 2 to 1."

Women's lacrosse sprints to 10-0 start

With an impressive 18-9 win over Harvard April 12, Princeton women's lacrosse improved to 10-0, its best start since 2004, when the Tigers were a perfect 16-0 in the regular season. Princeton, ranked No. 2 in the April 14 Inside Lacrosse poll, faces three top-10 teams in its final six games: No. 6 Penn (April 16 at 7 p.m. in Class of 1952 Stadium); No. 3 Maryland (April 30 at 7 p.m. in Class of 1952 Stadium); and No. 8 Georgetown (May 3 at 1 p.m. in Washington, D.C.).
The Tigers' attack has shown remarkable balance and accuracy in the first 10 games. Five players have scored 16 or more goals, and 52 percent of the team's shots have reached the back of the net, best in the Ivy League.

The countdown:

Days until Reunions 2008

Information technology has helped to transform industries in the United States and abroad, but according to former U.S. Rep. Newt Gingrich, U.S. health care continues to lag behind. When Hurricane Katrina destroyed the paper medical records of more than 1 million patients, the federal government funded a project to replace the paper records, instead of opting for a less vulnerable, more efficient electronic system. That sort of thinking, Gingrich told an audience of students, faculty, and community members April 2, is not conservative or liberal. "It's just dumb," he said. "It's obsolete."
Gingrich, founder of the Atlanta-based Center for Health Transformation, was on campus to meet with students from former Sen. Bill Frist ’74's course on health care and technology. After his three-hour visit with the Woodrow Wilson School students, he spoke to a full house at Dodds Auditorium, covering some of his pet peeves in the world of health care.
Technology, Gingrich said, has the potential to cut waste from the system and save lives. Paperless prescription systems, for instance, have been proven to reduce errors in medicating patients. Paperless records can trim some of the time that doctors and their assistants spend on administrative work. Gingrich scoffed at the idea that technology is risky or difficult to adopt. By a show of hands, he surveyed the audience - which included many local retirees - on their technological literacy, noting that most had used ATMs in foreign countries, snapped photos with their cell phones, and tracked UPS or FedEx packages online.
While technology could change health care, changing health itself will require changes in behavior, Gingrich said. Personal responsibility and cultural patterns can shift to improve health (he cited seatbelts and reductions in smoking and drinking and driving as past examples). Optimizing health and minimizing illness, he added, would have economic benefits for the United States. By Brett Tomlinson

Magic carpet ride

The classic story of Aladdin earned top billing at Princyclopedia 2008, sponsored by the Cotsen Children's Library and held in Dillon Gym March 29. Julia Solorzano ’10 got into the spirit with a ride on this "magic carpet," a makeshift hovercraft consisting of a leaf blower and an inflated air mattress.
Photo by Frank Wojciechowski

Club sport shorts: Table tennis; Quidditch for muggles

Princeton's table tennis club, the three-time defending champions of the National Collegiate Table Tennis Association's mid-Atlantic division, will travel to Rochester, Minn., for the sport's collegiate national championships April 11-13. Princeton placed second last year and returns with several of its top players, including Adam Hugh ’08, a participant in the U.S. Olympic trials.
On March 24, students from Princeton and Middlebury donned capes on their backs and straddled brooms as they faced off in a game of quidditch, the fictional game for wizards made popular by the Harry Potter novels and films. CBS Sports was on hand to cover the contest - a 100-0 Middlebury victory.

President emeritus Robert Goheen ’40 *48, whose association with Princeton spanned more than 70 years, died March 31 at age 88. The University's president from 1957 to 1972, Goheen guided Princeton through a transformative period, captured in Merrell Noden ’78's 2006 PAW feature, "A life at Princeton," and outlined in this week's obituaries from The New York Times, the Associated Press, and others. He led the University's move to coeducation in 1969, the recruitment of its first African-American professors and administrators as well as the first female full professor, a diversification the student body, and a vast physical expansion that included the construction of 25 campus buildings.
But generations of alumni also will remember Goheen from personal interactions in the classroom, where he was a distinguished student and later a professor classics; in service to his country, as a soldier in World War II and, after his presidency, as the U.S. ambassador to India; in his time as a University leader and campus peacemaker in the turbulent Vietnam War era (he expressed his thoughts eloquently in his 1970 Baccalaureate Address); or in retirement, as an active alumnus who communed with old friends at Reunions.
In 2006, PAW online columnist Gregg Lange ’70 recalled that "students comfortably referred to [Goheen] as 'Bogo,' while freely admitting he was as bright a person as they had ever met." Stan Pieringer ’70, who covered Goheen for The Daily Princetonian during a time of great dissent on college campuses, summarized one view of Goheen's term in a remembrance published this week: "Elegance of thought, moral courage, openness to all viewpoints, dedication to the life of the mind -- yes," Pieringer wrote. "But more than that -- always working for progress."
Goheen also had a sense of humor, evident during his presidency and after he retired. In 1997, a PAW story erroneously indicated that daughters of Robert Stockton, Class of 1813, had attended Princeton. Goheen, in a letter to the editor, quipped, "Too bad that precedent took so many years to materialize!"
When questioned about his legacy, Goheen was modest. He told archivist Daniel Linke, who led the Goheen oral history project at Mudd Library: "I was able to start a process of change at the University -- creative change -- which has been carried forward by each one of my successors. I don't know if that's a legacy or not, but anyhow it's very gratifying to see that the University's not stopped."

To share your stories and memories of Robert Goheen ’40 *48, e-mail PAW at paw@princeton.edu.

More Goheen links:
The University's In Memoriam blog
A video from the Goheen Oral History Project
The Daily Princetonian's memorial section
Professor Stan Katz remembers Goheen and Professor Robert Fagels, who also died last week

Photos, from left: Goheen appeared on PAW's cover several times, including in 1940, when he was awarded the Pyne Prize with classmate J.H. Worth; in 1957, at his inauguration as Princeton's president; and in 2006, 70 years after he arrived on campus as a freshman.

Programming note: Spotlight on health care

The April 15 edition of PBS' Frontline will feature reporter T.R. Reid ’66, author of the forthcoming book Quest for a Cure, and economist Uwe Reinhardt, the James Madison Professor of Political Economy at Princeton. The show will look at health care systems in other industrialized democracies, including England, France, Germany, Japan, and Switzerland, and ask what the United States can learn from them. The answer, Reid writes: "a lot."

PAW Web Exclusive: Gregg Lange ’70's "Rally ’Round the Cannon"

The fight of the century

While you were devouring in meticulous detail the colorful, beautifully illustrated booklet on the current campus development plan that you received with your issue of PAW in January - and which magically coincides with the Aspire capital campaign - you may have realized that there's an assumption that is literally central to the concept.
The Current Big Glossy Planning Idea is that Frist Campus Center is anointed as the center of the campus. Distances are measured from there, presumably everybody knows where it is, you can meet other folks there without fuss, there's expensive pizza, it providentially has the word "center" right in it. In fact, it's such a natural that Woodrow Wilson 1879 figured it out a hundred years ago. ... Click here to read more

Director John Wilhelm ’59 recounts the story of a little-known community of leprosy patients and its role in curing the disease in his latest documentary, "Triumph at Carville," written and produced with wife Sally Squires. The film, which premieres March 28 at 10:00 p.m. on PBS, documents the triumph over mankind's most feared disease and tells a tale of bravery, perseverance and compassion that flourished within the Louisiana leprosarium known as Carville.
Wilhelm, who began his career writing for Time magazine, has enjoyed award-winning success as a filmmaker, with acclaimed works that include the four-part PBS series The Health Century and the Emmy-nominated PBS science special Comet Halley.
Wilhelm's latest film captures the history of Carville from its beginning in an abandoned, antebellum sugar plantation 25 miles south of Baton Rouge. Conditions there were horrific, and it took decades for the hauntingly beautiful grounds to become a refuge for leprosy patients from all over the world.
In time, greater understanding about this mysterious ailment emerged from the extensive research conducted at Carville. (Leprosy today is known as Hansen's disease, named for Gerhard Hansen, the Norwegian discoverer of the bacteria that cause it.) The facility gradually evolved into a more hospital-like environment and later into something that resembled a gated community, complete with golf course, athletic fields, dances and an annual Mardi Gras with hand-me-down costumes from the New Orleans celebration. And out of this unique community came a gift for the entire world: a multi-drug therapy that today is considered a cure.
Patients in the United States no longer are quarantined. With early diagnosis and treatment, they can lead entirely normal lives. In 1999, the U.S. Public Health Service transferred Carville back to the state of Louisiana. Some 5,000 patients had passed through its gates.
Crafted from contemporary interviews, as well as old radio shows, movie news accounts and other archival materials -- including an exclusive trove of photographs taken by a longtime patient -- "Triumph at Carville" takes viewers inside Carville and introduces them to patients, Daughters of Charity nuns, doctors and staff who lived and worked there.
Photo: Graveyard at Carville, courtesy of Allen Moore/The Wilhelm Group, Inc.

Hockey champions move on to NCAAs

Goalie Zane Kalemba ’10 notched his third shutout of the postseason in Princeton's 3-0 ECAC Hockey semifinal win over Colgate March 21, and the Tigers continued their hot streak with a 4-1 victory against Harvard in the championship game March 22. Kalemba, who made 35 saves against the Crimson, was named the tournament's most outstanding player.
With the ECAC Hockey title in hand, Princeton will move on to face North Dakota in the NCAA Championships March 29 at 3 p.m. at the Kohl Center in Madison, Wis. Check goprincetontigers.com for information about tickets and regional television coverage of Princeton's NCAA games.

Perusing PRISM posters

Jacob Tarver, a graduate student in chemical engineering, reads about Princeton research in the Friend Center during the PRISM University-Industry Symposium March 18. The two-day program covered topics in "Materials for Energy" and "Photonics, Sensors, and Networks."
Photo by Frank Wojciechowski

What do a religion major from New Hope, Pa., and Donny Osmond have in common? They are related. On screen, that is. In the recently released Walt Disney movie College Road Trip, Molly Ephraim ’08 plays Osmond's daughter, Wendy. Throughout the movie, the duo terrorizes co-stars Raven Simone and Martin Lawrence with annoyingly cheerful show tunes. Ephraim, in addition to making her big-screen debut, played a murder victim in a recent episode of Law and Order. When not acting off-campus or with the Princeton Triangle Club and University Players, she tries to find time to work on her thesis, an investigation of female figures in Hindu and Buddhist religions. Ephraim recently spoke with The Weekly Blog's Julia Osellame ’09.

When did you start acting?
My first passion was dancing, which I started when I was really young, 3 or 4. I started acting when I was 8 or 9, but my first professional show when I was 13. My parents always joke that I was asking for an agent for my birthday when I was 10. Most kids that age are asking for a pony. Coming to Princeton after I had done two Broadway shows, I was pretty certain of what I wanted to do with my life, but I wanted to keep my options open.
What was most difficult about your movie debut?
When you're used doing theater you know the lingo, but when you do a movie, nobody sits you down and says, "Here's the vocabulary list you need to know." The first day on set, Donny Osmond was five feet ahead of me and was rehearsing the scene really quietly. I thought he was on vocal rest, something done to save your voice for theater shows. Of course, I couldn't realize why I was so much louder than everyone. I had forgotten that the microphones pick up your voice, so you don't need to project as much as you do on stage. The director said I was speaking six decibels higher than everyone else, but that it was great for keeping in Wendy's character.
Did filming College Road Trip interrupt your summer?
Filming was only four days at the end of the summer. It was a great summer job! I went from working in the Rubin Museum of Himalayan Art in Chelsea to doing a Disney movie.
What is being on a movie set like?
I was just really happy to be there more than anything else. There isn't the instant gratification of doing something in front of an audience, but working on a movie is much less stressful than being on Broadway. With all the little perks, it was like I was a kid in a candy store, literally. I'd stash Starbursts in a little purse that I carried. And I was so happy to have my makeup done by somebody else, but the makeup artist could always tell that I was snacking, because my lipstick would come off.
Any upcoming plans?
My next project is my thesis and then after that, I don't know. I've been taking things as they come, which has been great. I've been really lucky and one project has been rolling into the next. But I do look forward to auditioning again. A Broadway actor's schedule isn't much different than a college student's ― go to bed after a show at 1 a.m. and wake up at noon. I like being a night owl.

Skating to the semis

The Tiger mascot glided around Baker Rink between periods during the opener of the men's hockey team's ECAC Hockey quarterfinal series against Yale March 14. Princeton won the first and third games of the best-of-three series, with help from two shutouts by goalie Zane Kalemba ’10, to advance to the league semifinals for the first time in a decade. Princeton faces Colgate at 4 p.m. March 21 at the Times Union Center in Albany, N.Y.
The NHL Network and Time Warner Sports will broadcast the Princeton-Colgate game live, while SportsNet New York will show the game on tape-delay March 22 at 1 p.m. Three regional networks ― Time Warner Sports, SportsNet New York, and Comcast's CN8 ― will show the ECAC Hockey championship game live, March 22 at 7 p.m.
Photo by Frank Wojciechowski

Names in the news, March madness edition

ESPN ranked Bill Bradley ’65 No. 7 on its list of the 25 Greatest Players in College Basketball. ... Longtime Princeton coach Pete Carril was included on USA Today's list of the five best college coaches who never reached the NCAA Final Four. ... John Thompson III ’88 is back in the NCAA Tournament with his Georgetown team, seeded No. 2 in the Midwest Region. ... Former Princeton hoops star Will Venable ’06 is turning heads in baseball's spring training as a top prospect for the San Diego Padres. ... Sports marketing executive Rick Giles ’83 launched a third postseason tournament, the 16-team College Basketball Invitational, with a field that included two teams coached by Princeton alumni. Chris Mooney ’94's Richmond squad fell two points short in its upset bit at Virginia March 18, while Brown, led by coach Craig Robinson ’83, lost a close opening-round contest against Ohio University.

More at PAW Online

PAW's Web Exclusives for the March 19 issue include:
Gregg Lange ’70's Rally ’Round the Cannon column, which highlights the contributions of the late Hugh de Neufville Wynne ’39 *40, a Princetonian with a "big grin and a nose for quality orange and black junk." Click here to read more
An essay by Richard M. Waugaman ’70, who dissects the idea that Edward de Vere, 17th Earl of Oxford, was the true author of William Shakespeare's works. The "smoking gun"? De Vere's bible, which highlights many of the passages to which Shakespeare alludes. Click here to read more
A profile of Sarah E. Walzer ’82, executive director of the Parent-Child Home Program. The program aims to "bridge the achievement gap for low-income families by empowering parents to see themselves as their children's first and foremost teachers," she says. Click here to read more