PHS Boys’ Lax Struggled Down the Stretch, Hampered by Injuries, Inexperienced Lineup

FILLING IN: Princeton High boys’ lacrosse player Evan Filion heads to goal in a game this spring. Junior midfielder Filion was a bright spot for PHS this season, tallying 21 points on 14 goals and seven assists. The Little Tigers posted a final record of 5-12. (Photo by Frank Wojciechowski)

By Bill Alden

When the Princeton High boys’ lacrosse team edged Allentown 6-5 in late April, it reached the .500 mark for the first time this spring as it improved to 5-5.

That win turned out to be the high water mark for PHS as it ended the season on a tailspin, losing its last seven games to finish with a 5-12 record. more

Booker Urges University Graduates: “Tell Your Truth” and “Use Your Power”

HONORARY MEMBER, CLASS OF 2018: U.S. Senator Cory Booker, keynote speaker at Princeton University Class Day on Monday, puts on a 2018 jacket after being named an honorary member of the senior class. (Photo Courtesy of Princeton University, Office of Communications, Denise Applewhite)

By Donald Gilpin

Speaking at Princeton University Class Day on Monday, U.S. Senator Cory Booker urged the 2018 graduates to lead lives of humility and gratitude, and to “tell your truth, embrace the world, and use your power every day.”

A New Jersey Senator since 2014 and widely touted as a Democratic presidential candidate for 2020, Booker said, “I want to impart to you all that you are powerful. Power is not measured by your position or titles or wealth. People give up their power by not realizing that they have it in the first place.” more

Andre A. Samuels Reaffirmed His Commitment to Prison Ministry After Field Education Experience At Princeton Theological Seminary

When an Intern Chaplain at Garden State Youth Correctional Facility in Crosswicks, NJ, Andre A. Samuels MDiv, ’18, explored and deepened his passions for prison ministry and social justice. “I’ve always been interested in prison ministry,” said the recent graduate. “I love working with young men of color and with those who are marginalized and disenfranchised in some way.” Seeking to grow as a minister and stand in solidarity with those who are in prison, Samuels began his internship with a strong desire to teach and preach. more

Dr. Kathryn A. Foster Named TCNJ’s 16th president

New Jersey native will return home, bringing to The College of New Jersey 30 years of experience as a proven teacher, scholar, leader, and staunch advocate of public higher education.

The TCNJ Board of Trustees voted unanimously this morning to appoint Dr. Kathryn A. Foster as the 16th president of The College of New Jersey. She will officially begin in the position on July 1. more

Microsoft’s Brad Smith on the Power and Perils of Technology

Photo courtesy of Princeton University, Office of Engineering Communications, Andrea Kane (2018)

By Donald Gilpin

“Data Fallout at Facebook,” “Americans See AI as a Threat to Jobs,” “Digital Cash Made Easy (Fraud Too),” “Self-Driving Car Accidents Will Keep Happening,” “Russian Election Meddling,” “The Rise of Cyber Surveillance,” “Can Democracy Survive Big Data?”

The headlines overflow with ominous warnings about the unintended consequences of the rapid growth of technology in the 21st century. Our romance with artificial intelligence (AI) and our faith in its potential to improve our lives have clearly hit a rough patch. A self-driving car kills a pedestrian; Facebook accounts look like more of a liability than an asset to our personal lives and relationships, our freedom, and the stability of our political systems; our jobs are disappearing; and though our smartphones often bring us together and help to educate our children, they can also create more loneliness, less actual human contact, and more closed-mindedness. more

That Club Life

The Ivy Club facade (Courtesy of Ivy Club)

By Anne Levin

In 1877, a small group of sophomores at the College of New Jersey — soon to be renamed Princeton University — decided to start a club where they could dine together and socialize. Renting rooms in a small brownstone and hiring a couple to cook and serve meals, the friends unwittingly began a tradition that has become a key part of the University experience.

From that first club, called Ivy, 18 more followed. The architecturally distinctive mansions that line Prospect Avenue and a section of Washington Road are the focus of The Princeton Eating Clubs, a lavishly-illustrated, diligently-researched book by Clifford Zink. Published last fall by the Princeton Prospect Foundation, it is full of  historical anecdotes and photographs from the clubs’ archives and libraries. more

Q&A with Shirley M. Tilghman, President of Princeton University, Emeritus Professor of Molecular Biology and Public Affairs

Photo by Charles R. Plohn

Interview by Lynn Adams Smith 

What have you been doing since stepping down as president of Princeton University, and how has your life changed?

After stepping down in July of  2013, I spent a year’s sabbatical, primarily in London, and have since returned to the faculty full time. I have been teaching in both the Freshman Seminar Program and in the Woodrow Wilson School, and working on science policy issues. My life seems to be almost as busy, but the major difference is that I have more control over my schedule. more

The Wizard We Never Knew

By William Uhl / Photographs Courtesy of Thomas Edison National Historic Park

Walking through the halls of Thomas Edison’s laboratory in Thomas Edison National Historical Park in West Orange, it’s easy to think history’s been frozen in time. From the chemical storage to his personal lounge, everything in the laboratory has been meticulously preserved and restored to look how Edison himself would have seen it. The material storage room still has everything ranging from iron bars to elephant hide, and the production floor has era-appropriate hats and jackets hanging on workers’ hooks. more

Room to Grow: Morven Gets a Much-Needed Modern Addition

By Anne Levin / Renderings courtesy of Morven Museum and Garden 

Imagining an addition to Morven, the historic Princeton museum that was home to a signer of the Declaration of Independence and five New Jersey governors, one might understandably expect a building in the style of the 18th-century Greek Revival mansion. But the recently opened Stockton Education Center, which adds much-needed space to the site, bears no resemblance to its grand old ancestor. more

Iran Entanglements Ignite Two Rallies, In Town and at P.U.

By Donald Gilpin

American politics continues to interweave and often clash with Iranian politics, and last week those entanglements precipitated two rallies in Princeton.

The first took place in Hinds Plaza on Wednesday to protest against President Trump’s announcement that the United States would be withdrawing from the nuclear agreement with Iran; and the second was held on Friday evening at Princeton University outside Frist Campus Center to show support and solidarity for Xiyue Wang, a Princeton graduate student who has been imprisoned in Iran for almost two years. more

US Sen. Cory Booker Selected as 2018 Class Day Speaker at Princeton University

United States Sen. Cory Booker of New Jersey has been selected to deliver the keynote address at the University’s Class Day ceremony on Monday, June 4.

Written by Princeton University’s Office of Communications

Class Day, which takes place the day before Commencement and is held on historic Cannon Green, is being organized by members of the graduating class and is one of Princeton’s oldest traditions. The ceremony also includes remarks by class members, the recognition of seniors for their accomplishments, and the induction of honorary class members. more

Fund for Irish Studies at Princeton University presents “John Redmond and Edward Carson: Bloodshed, Borders and the Union State”

Alvin Jackson, the Sir Richard Lodge Professor of History at the University of Edinburgh. (Photo by Johnny Bambury)

A lecture by Alvin Jackson, the Sir Richard Lodge Professor of History at the University of Edinburgh

Acclaimed Irish historian and scholar Alvin Jackson will conclude the spring 2018 Fund for Irish Studies series by giving a lecture, entitled “John Redmond and Edward Carson: Bloodshed, Borders and the Union State,” on Friday, April 27 at 4:30 p.m. in East Pyne Room 010 on the Princeton University campus.  The lecture is free and open to the public. more

Patrick Kennedy is at Home in New Jersey

By Taylor Smith 

Photography by Tom Grimes

The youngest son of Massachusetts Senator Ted Kennedy and Virginia Joan Kennedy, Patrick Kennedy has put down roots in Brigantine, New Jersey with his wife, Amy, and four children, Harper, Owen, Nora, and Nell. Amy is expecting their fifth child in May. A New Jersey native, Amy has more than 15 years’ experience working in New Jersey public schools and is the education director of The Kennedy Forum. Patrick lovingly refers to Amy as his “Jersey girl,” who grew up in a neighboring shore town. Located on the bayside of the Jersey Shore, a stone’s throw from Atlantic City, the Kennedy’s waterfront home is centered around family and the beauty of the natural setting. On the day of Princeton Magazine’s visit, seagulls were dive-bombing around Patrick’s boat and fine grains of sand blew across the roadway. more

Fueled by Disappointing Finish at NCAAs in 2017, Tiger Open Crew Driven to Succeed This Spring

OPEN FOR BUSINESS: The Princeton University open women’s varsity eight shows its form in a recent race. The Tiger had a mixed result last Saturday, topping Yale to retain the Eisenberg Cup but falling to Iowa in the three-boat race. Princeton, now 10-1, returns to action when it heads south to face the University of Virginia in Charlottesville, Va. on April 21. (Photo Courtesy of Princeton’s Office of Athletic Communications)

By Bill Alden

After rolling through the regular season last spring with an 11-0 and winning the Ivy League Championships, the Princeton University open women’s varsity eight hit a roadblock at the NCAA championships. more

HHH in ’68

 

 

Heather Howard’s Journey in Politics and Policy

By Donald Gilpin

Images courtesy of Heather Howard

Readers old enough to have been politically aware in 1968 will probably recognize the slogan “HHH in ’68!”  Hubert H. Humphrey lost his bid for the presidency that year to Richard Nixon. But Humphrey was not the only triple H political figure on the scene then. Princeton Councilwoman Heather Harding Howard, lecturer at Princeton University’s Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs, faculty affiliate of the Center for Health and Wellbeing, and director of State Health and Value Strategies, was born that year. And she owns a couple of “HHH in ’68” posters to commemorate that fact. more

Spring Awakening: How Does Your Garden Grow?

Brian Sullivan, NYBG’s vice president for landscape and glasshouses, teaches a horticulture class in the native plant garden. (Photo courtesy of New York Botanical Garden)

Classes online and on-site offer an array of horticultural help

By Wendy Greenberg

The air is warmer and daylight lingers longer. Lime green leaves are painting roadside landscapes.  So often spring awakens an urge to seek greener thumbs, or greener yards.  After all, it is the Garden State.

If you are so inspired, you are in luck. A bounty of classes and programs beckons to help would-be plant whisperers find their voices. Some of the area’s most respected and scenic public gardens are at your service with on-site and online courses, ranging from landscape design to wellness and therapy, to native flora, and some unusual offerings. more

The Power Of Music And Dance

The Leonard Bernstein and Jerome Robbins Centennials

By Donald H. Sanborn III

Legendary American composer, conductor, pianist, educator, and humanitarian Leonard Bernstein (1918-1990) once said, “I can’t live one day without hearing music, playing it, studying it, or thinking about it.” Audiences and museum visitors are having multiple opportunities this year to hear Bernstein’s music and think about it. In March, Princeton University’s Richardson Chamber Players presented “Bernstein and Friends: A Centennial Celebration.” Institutions such as Symphony Space and the National Museum of American Jewish History also will celebrate the maestro’s centennial. Aficionados of the work of choreographer Jerome Robbins (1918-1998) will have similar opportunities. more

Birds in Your Worlds

Princeton’s Institute Woods is among the best places to view spring migrators

By Ilene Dube

Photo-Illustrations by Jeffrey E. Tryon

Birds by Maria Stezhko (shutterstock.com) 

At this writing—a cold gray winter day—it’s hard to imagine that in May, the skies will fill with migrating birds, bringing color, song, and beauty to the treetops.

“Spring warbler watching is not just birding. It is a social phenomenon, a ritual, a happening like maple sugaring in Vermont or the opening day of trout season in Pennsylvania,” writes eminent ornithologist Pete Dunne. “People who never lift binoculars at any other time of year X out their Saturday mornings in May and join thousands of kindred souls searching for treasure in the treetops.”  more

The Princeton Baby Lab: Big Research From Small Subjects

By Wendy Greenberg // Photography by Fotobuddy Photography 

Where in Princeton can parents take their babies and older siblings to play in a bright space with books, toys, and engaging staff?

Playgroup? Toddler gym? Wrong. Welcome to the Princeton Baby Lab, run by a research group in Princeton University’s psychology department. more

The Road to Freedom

344 Nassau Street, known in the 19th Century as the “Robert Horner House”

TRACING THE UNDERGROUND RAILROAD IN NEW JERSEY

By Doug Wallack // Photographs Courtesy of The Historical Society of Princeton

The Underground Railroad has long captivated the American popular imagination; as a nation in turmoil struggled to reckon with its moral realities, this network of safe houses and volunteers conveying fugitive slaves to free states and Canada was a beacon of grassroots resistance, an instance of interracial cooperation, and the setting of countless tales of individual and collective courage. more