Wilson College Staff
Jack Axcelson, Director of Studies
Greetings! I’m now starting my fifth year at Wilson. I came to Princeton from Columbia University, where I taught courses on Eighteenth-Century and Romantic literature and served as a dean in both Columbia College and the Graduate School of Arts & Sciences. I have a PhD in English Literature from Columbia, and I have a deep and abiding passion for all things relating to the Enlightenment, Romanticism, and the French Revolution—I’m often spotted riding off in mad pursuit of Laurence Sterne, a writer whose view of life I find remarkably congenial. I’m also a musician, and I love all kinds of music. I consider myself deeply learned in Dylanology, and when I’m home alone I sometimes indulge a secret passion for classic country music.
Wherever your own passions may be taking you, I hope you’ll feel free to stop by my office sometime to chat. Or perhaps I’ll come to you.…I will organize and attend a great many Wilson College programs this year, and I hope we’ll have many opportunities to meet and get to know one another. I live here in Princeton with my wife Helen, a fashion designer in New York City; my son August, who is currently testing the waters of Princeton high school; and my daughter Grace, who is prepping to show everyone how third grade ought to be done!