P E O P L E

Spotlight

Name: Kirsten Erwin.

Position: Undergraduate administrator in the chemistry department. Coordinating the undergraduate program -- everything from tracking individual student progress to designing T-shirts to choreographing "a very different kind of Class Day ceremony." Assisting students in choosing a career path "that truly excites them."

Quote: "Our department is small enough that I can have a great deal of personal contact with the students. I really enjoy working with young people. The department has a family-like atmosphere -- the faculty are very nurturing."

Other interests: Erwin, who has two grown children and a collie/shepherd named Woodrow Wilson, enjoys gardening and reading.

Briefs

Seven Princeton faculty members are among the 184 artists, scholars and scientists who received a 2003 Guggenheim Fellowship, an honor that recognizes exceptional achievement and supports promising projects.
    Each Guggenheim Fellow will receive a grant to support his or her work; the average grant for 2003 was $36,000. The John Simon Guggen-heim Foundation, which awards the fellowships, selected this year's recipients from among more than 3,200 applicants.
    The Princeton faculty members and their proposed projects are:

• Charles Beitz, professor of politics, for research on "A Political Theory of Human Rights."

• Roland Benabou, professor of economics and public affairs, for research on "Behavioral Political Economy."

• Perry Cook, associate professor of computer science, for research on "Technology and Vocal Expression."

• Sean Kelly, assistant professor of philosophy, for research on "Phenomenology, Consciousness and Embodiment."

• M.V. Ramana, research staff member in the Program on Science and Global Security, for research on "The Present and Future of Nuclear Energy in India."

• Barbara White, assistant professor of music, for research on "Music Composition."

• Robert Wuthnow, the Gerhard Andlinger '52 Professor of Social Sciences, for research on "America's Historic Self-identity and the Challenges of Religious and Cultural Pluralism."

Daniel Rubenstein, chair of the Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, has been selected as the George Eastman Visiting Professor at the University of Oxford for the 2003-04 academic year.

The professorship makes it possible for highly distinguished American scholars to serve as visiting professors at Oxford's Balliol College. Ruben-stein, who will be associated with Oxford's Department of Zoology, will participate in 24 academic functions arranged in accordance with his interests.

Joyce Carol Oates, the Roger Berlind '52 Professor in the Humanities, has been named a recipient of a 2003 Common Wealth Award of Distin-guished Service. The awards are presented annually to individuals who have enriched and advanced humanity through their exceptional lifetime achievements.
    Oates was honored as "one of America's most significant and inventive contemporary writers." She shared the $250,000 prize, presented by the PNC Financial Services Group, with four other recipients: television journalist Sam Donaldson; former U.S. Sen. Bob Dole; director-choreographer Susan Stroman; and inventor Dean Kamen.

The Camille and Henry Dreyfus Foundation has selected Associate Professor of Chemistry Suzanne Walker to receive a Camille Dreyfus Teacher-Scholar Award for 2003.
    Walker is among 13 scientists selected for the honor, which provides funding for research as well as support for undergraduate teaching initiatives that emphasize research experience. Walker's research under the award will investigate how cells modify the function of proteins by tacking on specialized sugar molecules after the proteins have been completely assembled from the blueprint encoded in DNA.

William Jordan, professor of history and director of the Program in Medieval Studies, has been honored with Princeton's Behrman Award for distinguished achievement in the humanities.
    Jordan earned his Ph.D. in history from Princeton in 1973 and joined the faculty the same year. He has taught courses on subjects ranging from "English Constitutional History" and "The High Middle Ages" to "Law and Legal Education in the Middle Ages and the Renaissance" and "The Medieval City." Last year, he won the Princeton President's Award for Distinguished Teaching.
    Jordan is the author of several books in the field of medieval history. He also has served as editor-in-chief of the Supplement to the Dictionary of the Middle Ages (Charles Scribner's Sons, 2003) as well as of an encyclopedia and a guide to the Middle Ages for young students.
    Bestowed annually, the Behrman Award was established in 1975 by a gift from the late Howard Behrman, a physician and book collector.

Thomas DaCosta Kaufmann, professor of art and archaeology, has been awarded a Rome Prize, which allows American artists and scholars to study at the American Academy in Rome.
    With the fellowship, Kaufmann will study 16th-century artist Giuseppe Arcimboldo's contribution to the invention of still-life painting. His research will combine art theory, nature painting and natural history.

 
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June 2, 2003
Vol. 92, No. 28
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Contents

Page one
•Valedictorian looks forward to continuing pursuits beyond Princeton
•Latin salutatorian: Mythical fascination leads to odyssey with classical languages
•Slaughter advances the Wilson School by reaching out

People
•New faculty members appointed
•Labouisse winner gets 'in the flow' of research
•Four seniors, one alumnus receive Gates Cambridge Scholarships
•Four honored for their work mentoring graduate students
•Spotlight, briefs

Inside
•Admission video wins gold medal
•Provenance research subject of exhibition at art museum
•Library acquires collection of Eudora Welty

Sections
•Calendar of events
•Nassau Notes
•By the numbers