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Notebook - March 11, 1998
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Recruiting explodes on campus Employers woo seniors in the best job market in a decade Elisa L. Durrette '98's future employer, Trilogy Development Group, went to great lengths to impress her and other students who were considering working for it. Trilogy, a software firm, last fall hosted a welcome-back-to-campus party at Triumph Brewery in Princeton, mixers at the Nassau Inn, and a dinner at the Alchemist and Barrister, among other events. During exam period, it sent Durrette a care package. And it kept her up to date on the company through frequent e-mail messages. An English major, Durrette will work in account development and strategic marketing for the Austin, Texas-based company. According to Director of Career Services Minerva H. Reed, on-campus recruiters have been especially aggressive this year. Companies aren't just offering information sessions and interviews. "They want to have so much more connection to students," says Reed. For example, some firms such as Goldman Sachs and J.P. Morgan have held events to attract more people of color and more women. Companies are competing for high-caliber students, said Reed and several recruiters interviewed. Because of this, some firms moved up the interview process from the second to the first semester so they could extend offers during the fall. Some of those same companies will return to campus in the spring to recruit more students, added Reed. Typically, each student participating in on-campus recruiting receives two or three offers, said Reed. But some students get more. Shalini Aggarwal '98 received five offers and accepted Morgan Stanley's to work in its investment-banking division. Like Aggarwal, Frank Z. Chang '98 interviewed in the fall and fielded six offers. He was wined and dined in Chicago, Boston, Seattle, San Francisco, and New York City. A computer science major, he accepted an offer from Microsoft. Some organizations, said Reed, are looking beyond those students with the highest GPAs and the most relevant work experience, thus expanding their view of who is a qualified candidate. In addition to increased recruiting on campus, Reed has noticed more job announcements making their way to her office through online job-listing services and other resources. Reed hasn't seen as much job-related activity for seniors since the 1980s. She predicts that more seniors will graduate with jobs in hand than in recent years, when about 25 percent of seniors reported having landed jobs by May, when the senior survey is conducted.
Hot Fields One of the strongest fields this year, said Reed, is the Internet. The number of job postings having to do with all aspects of the Internet, from computer design and graphics to developing and writing Websites, is growing dramatically, she said. Other fields in demand are consulting; investment banking and finance; and the arts, communications, and entertainment. What are recruiters seeking in prospective employees? J.P. Morgan, a financial-services company, looks for a blend of analytical, communications, and interpersonal skills, as well as "a certain spark," said Nancy Harwood '79, director of human resources for sales and trading. Although employees need to be "very comfortable with numbers," she said, they need not have majored in a particular discipline requiring quantitative skills. J.P. Morgan and many other companies that recruit at Princeton have many alumni among their employees. That's one reason Trilogy Development Group recruits at Princeton, said recruiter Rachel Rucker, who seeks employees with ability, enthusiasm, communications skills, and an interest in learning. As for pay, those employed in finance can expect to earn up to $40,000, said Reed. Engineers will probably earn in the high 30s to low 40s; Internet-related jobs will pay in the mid to high 30s; and positions in advertising and publishing in the mid 20s. Though some seniors can now enjoy the rest of the year with employment in the offing, plenty have yet to secure jobs. Most are still looking or pursuing admission to graduate school, said Reed. For those seniors still searching for the perfect job, take heart. Reed would like to see seniors take their time deciding on postgraduation plans. And Harwood warns against getting pigeonholed too early; she urges students to take risks and explain them to prospective employers later.
Ask the Professor What will President Clinton be remembered for in 50 years? How have the sex scandals affected the integrity of his leadership? Presidential reputations are in the eye of the beholder. They rise and fall with the concerns of the times. Thomas Jefferson, for example, was viewed as a dangerous radical during much of the 19th century, but in the New Deal era he came to be viewed as something of an icon -- a historical harbinger of Franklin D. Roosevelt. William Jefferson Clinton is not likely ever to be viewed as an icon, but it is quite possible that he will be viewed as the chief executive who moved the Democratic Party to the center of the political spectrum and out of the era of big government. If the agenda of his State of the Union message finds its way into the statute books, he also is likely to be remembered (at least by scholars) as a policy engineer who made moderate but valuable repairs to existing policies: expanding Medicare, ending welfare as we once knew it, and bailing out the social-security system. But if his presidency comes to an end because of a sex scandal, he is likely to have a Warren Harding-like reputation, as a chief executive who demeaned his office -- and who didn't have the excuse of having Harding's limited intelligence and ability. Stay tuned!
Q&A With credits ranging from a high-speed train station in Seoul, South Korea, to a posh cultural center on Staten Island, architect Rafael Viñoly is nothing if not versatile. For all his experience, though, Viñoly admits that designing Princeton's new football stadium posed a unique challenge. It had to be intimate, yet retain the same approximate mass and shape as Palmer Stadium. The planners started with 81 possible alternatives before settling on the final design, which includes a sunlit public concourse beneath the football stands and a separate track area. The William M. Weaver '34 Track and Field Stadium will be dedicated on May 2, 1998. Opening ceremonies for the Princeton Stadium will take place on September 19, 1998, immediately before the Cornell football game. PAW recently spoke with Viñoly about the project from his office in New York City.
Q: You'd already designed several sports stadiums before this project. Was that background helpful? A: Yes, but each case is very different. This project in particular was thoroughly unusual, because of the process we followed. We considered every conceivable scenario: various configurations; whether the track should be inside or outside the stadium, or perhaps at another site across Lake Carnegie; whether the stadium capacity should be 30,000 or something bigger. Because football is a major tradition at Princeton, it was also important to respect the memory of Palmer Stadium, but at the same time make the new building contemporary. Also, the building had to have a civic function, which is not a typical goal for an athletic structure. We looked at how pedestrian traffic would flow from one end of the complex to the other, where to locate the new parking areas, and how to shift the surrounding streets.
Q: How was the design process managed? A: The project was guided by a group of administrators, faculty, students, and alumni. But it was really the project of Dick Spies [*72, vice-president for finance and administration]. He had enormous foresight in understanding that this building wasn't simply a football stadium, but a crucial part of the campus. The people working in adjacent buildings helped us a lot in understanding how we might build a structure that they could actually use.
Q: So then it was up to you to pull all these suggestions together? A: That's an architect's job -- to collect these different sources of information and weave them into one story that can actually be developed. We also had a couple of interesting notions of our own on how to transform the building into a public structure so that it would be more than just a dormant stadium on the days when it's not in use. The concourse, for instance, becomes a gallery that allows a large number of people to walk by and also lets light in. Overall, I think the new stadium is going to have an impact on many levels. Remember, this is a part of the campus that was always considered to be far away from everything. Now all of a sudden it's part of an important academic cluster [the math-physics complex is next door], and it's become central to the campus.
Q: What other features should we look for? A: One issue was the whole discussion of a three-sided versus a four-sided stadium. The horseshoe configuration is very identifiable with Princeton, and we wanted to maintain that form. The trouble is, a horseshoe creates a totally uneven playing condition: you've got one goal that's surrounded by people and one that's out in the open. The football alumni were interested in finding a solution for this without disrupting the notion of the horseshoe. We came up with a sort of compromise -- a three-sided stadium, with spectator seating behind both goals. We also cut out the bad seats at the northern corners of the horseshoe and created entry plazas with interior gardens. It'll give a whole new perspective to the experience of watching a game, to have trees right there.
Q: One issue was whether the track should go inside or outside the stadium. How did you resolve this? A: We looked at a wide range of alternatives. Finally we realized that separating the track from the football stadium didn't have to mean putting track and field on the back burner. We were able to produce some additional space by changing the street layout and pulling the stadium to the north. The new building creates a real sense of identity for the track and field program: Once the canopy is up, you'll see that it's actually a ministadium in its own right. --Royce Flippin '80 A computer image of the stadium is available on Rafael Viñoly's Website, at www.rvapc.com/mainpton.htm.
By the Numbers
Judith S. Rodin (Pennsylvania) - $453,029
Several Ivy League leaders were among the top-paid college and
university presidents in the nation, according to a survey
by The Chronicle of Higher Education. Judith S. Rodin, of the
University of Pennsylvania, was the third highest-paid president in the
nation and the top-paid Ivy president, with $453,029 in salary and
benefits. Yale's Richard C. Levin was sixth in the nation and
second among Ivy presidents. Ninth in the nation and third among Ivy
leaders was Columbia's George E. Rupp '64. And Dartmouth's James
O. Freedman was 10th in the nation and fourth-highest in the Ivy
league. Topping the national list was John A. Curry, at Northeastern
University, who retired in June 1996. His retirement package and
compensation and benefits for 1995-96 totaled almost $1 million.
The Chronicle collected data from the federal tax returns filed by
477 private-colleges and universities for 1995-96, the most recent
year available.
Helping immigrants: Paul A. Kramer *92, a graduate student
in history, was awarded the university's first annual International
Service Award, in December, for his work on behalf of Princeton's Latino
immigrants. He is the founder of the campus-based Princeton
Immigrants Rights League, known as Apoyo, and the cochair of the
community-based Princeton Latin American Task Force. Apoyo
works to improve the living and working conditions of Princeton's
Latino immigrants by helping them defend their rights, said Kramer.
The Task Force performs community-service work.
Sachs Scholar: Shalani Elaine Alisharan '98, a psychology
major, has been named this year's winner of the Daniel M. Sachs '60
Scholarship, which supports two years of graduate study and
provides a stipend for expenses. Alisharan plans to earn a master's
degree in neuroscience, or some other branch of psychology, at
Worcester College, Oxford University, with an eye toward an
eventual career in academic psychology. Her senior thesis examines
neuronal characteristics of the ventral premotor cortex in monkeys.
Tenured Prof: Eduardo Lujan Cadava was promoted to the
tenured position of associate professor of English in January.
A member of the faculty since 1989, Cadava earned his 1988
Ph.D. from the University of California, Irvine. He specializes
in American literature and literary theory and has taught a
wide range of courses, including The Age of Emerson and The
Ethics of Friendship. On leave from Princeton this year, he is a
visiting associate professor at the University of Iowa.
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