Rocky Master
Master's Welcome to the Class of 2016!
Let me begin by remarking how happy I and the whole staff at Rockefeller College are that you will be joining us. There will be a number of events where we will meet officially, but I wanted to urge you as well to stop by the office to introduce yourselves informally as well. Rockefeller College is extraordinarily fortunate to have a really superb and devoted staff: Dean Oliver Avens, Director of Studies Anne Caswell-Klein, College Administrator Karen Sisti, Director of Student Life Amy Ham Johnson and College Secretary Crystal Sada.
First and foremost, Rockefeller College is a residence and a dining hall for a vivid and various community of freshman and sophomore residents, a community at once safe and stimulating. Added to this mix are the residential college advisers, who are a crucial part of our community. In addition, there will be living amongst us a number of graduate students, whose talents and interests will enrich the life of the college. There is a broad array of staff, faculty fellows, upper-class and graduate student fellows, all of whom help make Rockefeller College a rich and lively intellectual community, a community where we will do all we can to make you feel at home as you learn the ways of your new life here at Princeton. You will meet advisors who will help you figure out how to choose from amongst the wealth of course offerings and extra-curricular activities available to you. Add to this the multitudinous cultural and social opportunities provided by the college, and you will have some sense of the world that awaits you.
I look forward to seeing all of you, both first year students, as well as returning sophomores at the end of the summer.
All my best,
Jeff Nunokawa
Master
Rockefeller College
A brief history of "Jeffbook"
Jeff Nunokawa, Master of Rockeller College, started his Facebook page as an academic experiment in 2005, writing brief daily essays in the form of Facebook notes. More than 4000 thought-provoking essays later, he's still at it ...
Don't be shy! (He's not.) Introduce yourself to Jeff through his "Jeffbook" page!
Learn more about his ongoing project in this article in the Princeton Alumni Weekly and in The New Yorker. Hear Jeff talk about the genesis of this writing and about his life as an English professor on National Public Radio.
Jeff is also on Princeton's Facebook page where you can see him in the "Conversation With ..." video series.
Jeff the Mace-Bearer
Upon the retirement of Prof. John Fleming, his distinguished colleague in the English department, Jeff Nunokawa became the mace-bearer at University academic processions.
Princeton's mace was presented to the University by the residents of the Borough and Township of Princeton on September 23rd, 1956, upon the 200th anniversary of Nassau Hall. It is a symbol of the harmonious relationship between the University and the community that has prevailed since the trustees were invited to establish the college in 1752.
When not in use, the mace rests in a cradle in a glass case on a long table at the south end of the Faculty Room in Nassau Hall. It is used for at least three observances during the academic year: Opening Exercises, Baccalaureate Sunday Service, and at Commencement, held on the lawn in front of Nassau Hall. The mace-bearer, like the marshals, wears an orange gown and a Da Vinci cap. Jeff is no longer expected to use the mace for its original purpose, that is, to protect the dignitaries in the procession.
Photo: Princeton University, Office of Communications, John Jameson