John S. Weeren, formerly an assistant archivist and head of public services at Princeton's Seeley G. Mudd Manuscript Library , has been named assistant to the president and speechwriter for President Shirley M. Tilghman. He will begin working two days a week in early March and then move to full time in mid-April.
"In addition to being an excellent writer, John brings a deep knowledge and appreciation of Princeton's history and a broad interest in the life of the campus," Tilghman said. "He has already done some writing for me, and I greatly look forward to working with him on a wide range of projects."
Currently the college archivist at Moravian College in Bethlehem, Pa., Weeren first joined the Princeton staff in 1994 as a project archivist working on the papers of David A. Morse, who headed the International Labour Organization for 22 years and under whose leadership the ILO won the Nobel Peace Prize. In 1998, Weeren was named head of public services for Mudd Library. In this capacity, he fielded hundreds of questions about Princeton's history and wrote or edited some 1,600 letters per year, while also writing or editing research memoranda, collection guides, exhibition captions, press releases, talking points, Web pages, articles, papers and grant applications. Since leaving for the Lehigh Valley in 2001, he has retained ties to Princeton as a consulting archivist for the Department of Rare Books and Special Collections, working most recently on the Firestone Library exhibition in honor of George F. Kennan, a distinguished diplomat and historian who is a member of Princeton's class of 1925.
Born in Syracuse, N.Y., to an American mother and Canadian father, Weeren holds both U.S. and Canadian citizenship. He earned his bachelor's degree with first class honors in history and Spanish from the University of King's College and Dalhousie University in Halifax, Nova Scotia, and his master's degree in history from the University of British Columbia. In addition to working as an archivist for the Dartmouth Heritage Museum in Dartmouth, Nova Scotia, the University of King's College and the National Archives of Canada, he also worked as a parliamentary intern in Canada's House of Commons and as an assistant to Barbara McDougall when she served as Canada's secretary of state for external affairs.
As assistant to the president and speechwriter, Weeren will work directly with Tilghman on the preparation of speeches, reports, statements, articles, correspondence and other communications and will represent the president's office at meetings and events as well as on other occasions.
Contact: Ruth Stevens (609) 258-3601