Recently in Tiger of the Week

Tiger of the Week: Cameron Snaith ’00

This summer, 50 disadvantaged middle-school students from New York and Boston will attend art and music camp, thanks to our Tiger of the Week, Cameron Snaith ’00, and a group of young Princeton alumni who raised funds to provide scholarships to the children through the all-volunteer organization Giving Opportunities to Others (GOTO).

Since Snaith founded GOTO in 2001, the nonprofit has raised about $1 million and sent some 120 students to four-week, sleep-away art camps — Appel Farm Arts and Music Center in Elmer, N.J., and Camp Med-O-Lark in Washington, Maine — where they stretch their creative muscles, gain confidence, and share their interests with other students and counselors, all in rustic settings.

Tiger of the Week: Sonia Sotomayor ’76

Federal appeals court judge Sonia Sotomayor ’76 is poised to become the Supreme Court’s first Hispanic justice. She also is our Tiger of the Week. President Barack Obama introduced Sotomayor as his nominee May 26, describing her as “an inspiring woman” and citing her intellect and compassion. After that introduction, Sotomayor said, “My heart today is bursting with gratitude.”

Sotomayor, a native of the Bronx, N.Y., excelled at Princeton, where she was Phi Beta Kappa, co-winner of the Pyne Prize, and a summa cum laude graduate in the history department. She joined the University’s board of trustees in 2007. Sotomayor graduated from Yale Law School and began her career as a federal judge in 1991. She was nominated for the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit in 1997.

Ten other Princeton alumni have served as Supreme Court justices, beginning with William Patterson, Class of 1763. If confirmed, Sotomayor would join fellow Princetonian Samuel A. Alito Jr. ’72 on the high court. (The last time that two alumni sat together on the court was in 1860.) Alito famously declared his Supreme Court aspirations in his senior Nassau Herald profile. Sotomayor was not so bold, but she did include a favorite quote from another alumnus, Norman Thomas, Class of 1905: “I am not a champion of lost causes, but of causes not yet won.”

Do you have a nominee for Tiger of the Week? Let us know. All alumni qualify. PAW’s Tiger of the Week is selected by our staff, with help from readers like you.

Tiger of the Week: Monica Dweck ’76

When she was a child, Monica Dweck ’76 wanted to be a doctor because she wanted to help people. Today, as a leading oculoplastic surgeon, Dweck continues to pursue that goal, performing facial reconstruction for patients who have serious eye injuries, including many who are uninsured or underinsured. WPIX-TV in New York City profiled the Brooklyn doctor last week.

Oculoplastic surgery is a small but important a sub-specialty, said Dweck, who created the oculoplastic surgery curriculum for the ophthalmology residency program at SUNY Downstate Medical Center. Each surgery requires precision and an approach tailored to the unique anatomy of the patient's eye. Dweck told PAW that she sees it as an opportunity to be "artistic and creative in a scientific way."

Surgery also offers a chance to change lives by helping disfigured patients face the world again. Dweck, who completed her fellowship at the Cleveland Clinic, spent time in private practice before returning home to work and teach at SUNY Downstate. She said that while her choice may have had something to do with the informal motto "Princeton in the nation's service," it really was rooted in advice that her parents gave her: "If we have skills or a special talent, then we should share that with others."

(Photo courtesy Monica Dweck ’76)

Do you have a nominee for Tiger of the Week? Let us know. All alumni qualify. PAW's Tiger of the Week is selected by our staff, with help from readers like you.

Tiger of the Week: Eric Hagen ’92

Tiger of the Week Eric Hagen ’92 is at the top of his field, according to Forbes.com. Last week, the magazine chose him as the leading brokerage analyst in oil exploration and production, his area of expertise, and ranked Hagen fifth in its "dazzling dozen" of top analysts across all fields. (Rankings are based on a three-year performance history of "long-term calls," compiled by Zacks Investment Research in Chicago.)

Hagen, a onetime Princeton wrestler who served in the U.S. Marines after graduation, began working in the oil and natural gas sector as a consultant and has been an industry analyst for the last eight years, according to Forbes. He currently works for Banc of America Securities-Merrill Lynch Research, outperforming his peers with what Forbes described as "data-intensive methodology, an affinity for running 'what if' scenarios, and ... [a] focus on new industry trends."

Do you have a nominee for Tiger of the Week? Let us know. All alumni qualify. PAW's Tiger of the Week is selected by our staff, with help from readers like you.

Tiger of the Week: J. Robert Hillier ’59 *61

When architect J. Robert Hillier ’59 *61 and his wife, Barbara, created the online magazine Obit in April 2007, they envisioned a publication that would stretch the boundaries of the standard obituary. “Obit is about life’s stories,” Hillier explained in a recent press release. “We conceived of it to deal with life, death, and transition, and in doing so brought together some of the best journalists in the country.” So while there are plenty of stories about the lives and deaths of celebrities, politicians, and star athletes, the magazine also memorializes less traditional deaths, like the end of GM’s Pontiac brand (a farewell to the muscle car).

Two years after its launch, Obit (obit-mag.com) has earned high praise in the online magazine world. Last week, it received two Webby Awards from the International Guild of Web Designers. Obit was one of eight publications selected for the Best Magazines category and one of 12 honored for Best Copy/Writing. Apparently, as one of Obit’s taglines proclaims, “Death is only part of the story.”

(Photo courtesy J. Robert Hillier ’59 *61)

Do you have a nominee for Tiger of the Week? Let us know. All alumni qualify. PAW’s Tiger of the Week is selected by our staff, with help from readers like you.

Tiger of the Week: Geoffrey Aguirre ’92

Neurologist and cognitive neuroscientist Geoffrey Aguirre ’92 was featured on the cover of Philadelphia magazine's April issue as one of 64 up-and-coming doctors in the area. The story highlighted Aguirre's research and clinical work on the loss and recovery of visual ability.

In studies using functional magnetic resonance imagery (fMRI), Aguirre has shown that the human brain seems receptive to therapies that restore sight. "When we looked at the brains of people with severe visual impairment from birth," he explained to the magazine, "the part responsive to vision was remarkably preserved, which was a big surprise -- studies in animals had suggested the opposite. In humans, who are so much more visual than other organisms, that may be the result of the brain getting just enough light through the retina early in life that it hangs on to that function." Aguirre is based in the School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania, where he earned his M.D. and Ph.D. degrees.

(Photo courtesy Geoffrey Aguirre ’92)

Do you have a nominee for Tiger of the Week? Let us know. All alumni qualify. PAW's Tiger of the Week is selected by our staff, with help from readers like you.

Tiger of the Week: W.S. Merwin ’48

Poetry will be in the spotlight at Princeton next week, as the University welcomes Nobel laureate Seamus Heaney and a dozen other prominent poets for the first Princeton Poetry Festival, April 27 and 28. So it is fitting that our Tiger of the Week, W.S. Merwin ’48, is a distinguished man of letters. On April 20, Merwin won the 2009 Pulitzer Prize for poetry for The Shadow of Sirius (Copper Canyon Press), a collection of what the award citation called “luminous, often tender poems that focus on the profound power of memory.” Merwin also won a Pulitzer in 1971 for The Carrier of Ladders.

As an undergraduate, Merwin was influenced by two notable English professors: highly regarded literary critic R.P. Blackmur and poet John Berryman. Merwin wrote about his Princeton mentors in his 2005 memoir, Summer Doors. While Berryman was a merciless editor, his exhaustive knowledge of poetry made an impression on the young Merwin. But Blackmur, who famously rose to prominence in the academy without the benefit of a college degree, offered the most memorable advice: “A good education,” he told Merwin, “won’t do you any harm.”

(Photo courtesy Pulitzer.org/Mark Hanauer)

Do you have a nominee for Tiger of the Week? Let us know. All alumni qualify. PAW’s Tiger of the Week is selected by our staff, with help from readers like you.

Tiger of the Week: Ellie Kemper ’02

Ellie Kemper ’02 landed a dream job last week: She took over as Dunder Mifflin’s new receptionist on NBC’s The Office. Any role on a hit comedy would be a big boost for a young actress, but this one was particularly special for Kemper, a “huge fan” of the show. “Being on set with them is like being in a dream, except the dream is real and I can reach out and touch them,” she told PAW. “Except I am trying not to touch them too much, because I was raised right.”

Kemper’s character made an immediate impression on office mates Dwight and Andy, who angled for her attention on last week’s show. The performance also impressed PAW: She’s our Tiger of the Week.

Kemper, an English major from St. Louis, Mo., honed her comedic skills as an undergraduate with the Princeton improv group Quipfire! and the Princeton Triangle Club. For more from her brief e-mail interview with PAW, click below.

Tiger of the Week: Jim Flaherty ’70

Alumni from Princeton's Class of 1970 might have noticed a familiar face next to Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper at last week's G20 summit in London: Jim Flaherty ’70, Canada's minister of finance, was on hand to discuss remedies for the global economic crisis. Flaherty, a longtime member of Canada's Parliament, has been the finance minister since 2006. Like the other leaders at the G20 summit, he acknowledged that significant challenges lay ahead, but he did share some promising news with his constituents back home. "Our banking system is the most sound in the world," he told Canada's CTV News. "We're the envy of other banking systems."

Flaherty's assessment has some statistical backing: Canada ranked No. 1 in a list of the world's soundest banking systems, according to an October 2008 report from the World Economic Forum, a Geneva-based nonprofit. (The United States, by comparison, ranked 40th in soundness but No. 1 in overall competitiveness.) After the summit, Flaherty outlined monetary and fiscal policies that he believes will help Canada "accelerate" out of its recession.

(Photo courtesy Wikipedia)

Do you have a nominee for Tiger of the Week? Let us know. All alumni qualify. PAW's Tiger of the Week is selected by our staff, with help from readers like you.

Tiger of the Week: Elena Kagan ’81

In January, when Elena Kagan ’81 was selected as the U.S. solicitor general by President Barack Obama, she said that she was "honored and grateful, awestruck and excited" -- an understandable reaction to taking on the responisbility of arguing on the government's behalf in U.S. Supreme Court cases. Last week, Kagan was confirmed by the U.S. Senate and became the first woman in American history to serve as solicitor general.

Kagan, nominated for Tiger of the Week by a proud Princeton classmate, left another prestigious post to join the Department of Justice. She had been dean of Harvard Law School (also the first woman in that job). In 2007, she told PAW that her career had been largely uncharted, making stops in academia, government, and the federal judiciary. "The most fun things that happen to you in your career happen as a result of serendipity," she said. "If you plan too much, when they happen to you, you might be afraid to grab them."

(Photo courtesy Harvard Law School)

Do you have a nominee for Tiger of the Week? Let us know. All alumni qualify. PAW's Tiger of the Week is selected by our staff, with help from readers like you.

Tiger of the Week: Jodi Picoult ’87

Life is good for Jodi Picoult ’87. Last week, Handle With Care, the author’s 16th novel, debuted in the No. 1 spot of the New York Times Best Sellers List for fiction. It is the latest in a string of successful books about families and relationships.

Picoult routinely writes about gut-wrenching family situations — in Handle With Care, parents grapple with medical ethics and personal morality after the birth of a severely disabled child — but the author says her life at home has been free of such drama. “I had an incredibly happy childhood,” Picoult told USA Today earlier this month. “I married a terrific guy [fellow Princetonian Tim van Leer ’86] when I was 23. I have great, well-adjusted kids.”

On top of that, Picoult is our Tiger of the Week. What could be better?

Read two Jodi Picoult ’87 essays from PAW’s archives:

Against the current, Picoult’s recollection of her experiences as the first woman coxswain for a men’s heavyweight crew at Princeton (July 3, 2002)

Writing a challenging read: Why I write banned books (June 8, 2005)

(Photo courtesy JodiPicoult.com)

Do you have a nominee for Tiger of the Week? Let us know. All alumni qualify. PAW’s Tiger of the Week is selected by our staff, with help from readers like you.

Tiger of the Week: Denny Chin ’75

U.S. District Judge Denny Chin ’75, a district judge since 1994, is “known in the legal community as even-tempered, fair, witty, and unafraid to make tough decisions,” according to Reuters. Those qualities were tested under an international spotlight March 12 when Chin’s Manhattan courtroom handled a key hearing in the case of Bernard Madoff, who was charged with 11 counts related to a $65 billion Ponzi scheme.

Chin made a decision that drew cheers from dozens of people in his Manhattan courtroom. After listening to three jilted investors and hearing Madoff’s admission of guilt, the judge ordered Madoff to jail, revoking bail and setting June 16 as the date for the fraudulent financier’s sentencing. He also ensured that Madoff’s victims would have an opportunity to speak at the sentencing. But Chin was not a complete crowd-pleaser — Bloomberg.com reported that he quieted investors’ jeers on at least one occasion. For his poise under pressure, Chin is our Tiger of the Week.

The applause at the end of the proceedings did little to mask an unpleasant reality. As Lev Dassin, the acting U.S. attorney for the Southern District of New York, noted, investors are unlikely to recover more than a small fraction of their losses.

(Photo courtesy Wikipedia)

Do you have a nominee for Tiger of the Week? Let us know. All alumni qualify. PAW’s Tiger of the Week is selected by our staff, with help from readers like you.