Passion for the arts drives Humanities Council director

Three weeks after Carol Rigolot arrived on Princeton's campus in 1974, she discovered the perfect job.

Now celebrating her 26th year as executive director of the Council of the Humanities, she approaches her work with the same vigor and dedication that made her a natural choice to serve in this inaugural position.

"The Humanities Council is one of the most interesting places on campus, which is why I've been here so long," she said.

Rigolot, who was hired as a faculty member in the French department, found herself immediately drawn to the Humanities Council. "The French department was in the same building, and the chair of the council was a French professor," Rigolot remembered.

The council, which marked its 50th year in 2003, is a crossroads for artists and writers, a meeting place where students, faculty members and visiting fellows engage in research and intellectual exchange in a broad array of interdisciplinary subjects.

"I saw the activities the council was sponsoring, the journalists and artists it brought in," Rigolot said of her first impressions. "My mother was an artist and my father was a journalist, so the idea that this part of the University could combine my two passions as well as French literature, my other passion just seemed too good to be true, as if I had invented it."

Read the full story in the Weekly Bulletin.

Contact: Eric Quinones (609) 258-3601