Hooding 2024: 'A mark of true excellence in scholarship and research'
Yoonji Kim, now a Ph.D. in molecular biology, waits with other graduates and professors for the 2024 Hooding and Recognition Ceremony to begin.
Princeton’s newest Ph.D. and master’s degree recipients were honored May 27 at the 2024 Hooding and Recognition Ceremony for completing their advanced degrees during this past academic year. Because of the rain, graduates gathered indoors at Jadwin Gym, where they were surrounded by family, mentors and loved ones.
“This ceremony is a welcome opportunity for all of us — your families, friends, teachers, mentors and colleagues — to recognize the dedication, effort and intellect that you have brought to your work here,” said Princeton University Provost Jennifer Rexford. “Your graduate degree is a testament to your talent and commitment as well as a mark of true excellence in scholarship and research.”
Rodney Priestley, dean of the Graduate School and the Pomeroy and Betty Perry Smith Professor of Chemical and Biological Engineering
Graduate School Dean Rodney Priestley, the Pomeroy and Betty Perry Smith Professor of Chemical and Biological Engineering, urged the graduates to savor the moment.
“This is a pinnacle moment of your life,” he said. “A moment you have been working for years to achieve. A moment that will be part of your life story forever. We don’t get too many of these moments, so pause and take it all in.”
At the ceremony, 188 master’s degree recipients and 288 Ph.D. honorees were recognized by name as they walked across the stage. The Ph.D. recipients were hooded either by their faculty advisers or by Sandra Bermann, chief marshal for the University Convocations and the Cotsen Professor in the Humanities and professor of comparative literature.
The colorful gowns and hoods of academic regalia trace their history to medieval Europe, where heavy woolen robes were necessary in the cold stone halls of universities. Modern hoods distinguish the wearer both by rank and academic discipline. Each hood is bordered by a colored velvet band: royal blue for philosophy (as in doctor of philosophy, or Ph.D.); peacock blue for public affairs; gold for engineering; white for arts and letters; brown for architecture; and light brown for finance. The hood lining shows the university’s own colors — at Princeton, orange with a black chevron.
Dean Priestley and other members of the faculty process to the platform, showing their colorful gowns and hoods. The silk lining inside the hood shows the colors of the university granting the Ph.D. — at Princeton, orange with a black chevron. The velvet band indicates the discipline.
A journey of scholarship and mentorship
At Princeton, every Ph.D. candidate works closely with one or more advisers. Priestley acknowledged the 164 faculty members who were there to hood their advisees and mentees. “Their presence reminds us that the journey to an advanced degree is only possible with the encouragement and guidance of a supportive faculty,” he said.
Rexford is a professor of computer science and the Gordon Y. S. Wu Professor in Engineering. At the ceremony, she was the very first professor to hood her students: Xiaoqi Chen and Mary Hogan. Both Chen and Hogan already have faculty appointments for the fall, Chen at Purdue and Hogan at Oberlin College.
“One of the joys of faculty life is supporting graduate students as they grow from a student to a junior researcher and ultimately into a colleague and friend,” Rexford said. “I enjoy helping students as they discover and develop their own taste in selecting research problems, and hone their abilities to crack hard problems and communicate their ideas to others.”
Princeton University Provost Jennifer Rexford hoods her graduate student Mary Hogan as Chief Marshal Sandra Bermann looks on. “I didn’t know where I wanted to end up when I started grad school,” Hogan said prior to the ceremony. “Jen supported me every step of the way by providing me resources, connecting me with other people in the field, and just listening to me as I talked through my thoughts.”
“Jen has always provided me unwavering support and complete autonomy,” said Chen. “She encouraged my deep exploration into unorthodox methods and unconventional ideas, even when she disagreed with those choices. Of course, most of these explorations were not fruitful, but the ones that were became the defining moments of my Ph.D. journey.”
New psychology Ph.D. Mira Nencheva, who last year won Princeton's highest award for a graduate student, has had an unusually long relationship with adviser Casey Lew-Williams, because she joined his lab as a visiting researcher a year before she enrolled at Princeton.
“I first connected with Casey at a time when I wasn't sure if this whole grad school thing was going to work out for me, and he built up my love for research again,” said Nencheva at her recent dissertation defense. “He found research strengths in me, and he pushed me to find research that I feel excited about — that I feel proud of. I think the most magical thing about Casey is that he is an incredible, big-picture thinker who creates a community of amazing people around him.”
“In my experience, advising isn’t really 'advising,'” Lew-Williams said. “That’s the wrong metaphor. It’s best thought of as collaborating, where we co-create ideas and take turns learning from each other. It's a privilege in life to collaborate with graduate students like Mira, as with every current and former student in the Princeton Baby Lab.”
From left: Lindsay Brown, now a Ph.D. in English from Princeton University with a graduate certificate in African American Studies and an assistant professor of English at Lafayette College; Autumn Womack, associate professor of African American Studies and English; Zahid Chaudhary, associate professor of English; and Annabelle Haynes, now a Ph.D. in English with a graduate certificate in African American Studies and a newly appointed assistant professor of English at Hofstra University.
Genevieve Allotey-Pappoe, a newly minted Ph.D. in music, is a Ghanaian researcher and composer born and raised in Nigeria. She plays the piano, djembe and West African gyil xylophone, and she will begin as an assistant professor of music at Brown on July 1.
“Over the past six years, I have come to know Genevieve as a scholar, mentee and friend,” said her adviser Gavin Steingo, professor of music. “I saw her grow from a first-year seminar student to an extraordinary ethnographer in Barcelona, and then to a wonderful writer and teacher. The advisor-advisee relationship can be lifelong, and I hope it will be in this case. Advising Genevieve's dissertation has been an honor, and has truly been one of the highlights of my time at Princeton.”
“Gavin created a space for me to thrive and succeed during my time at Princeton,” said Allotey-Pappoe. “As a mentor and advisor, he has been a pillar and constant source of inspiration, guidance and support.”
In addition to presiding over the event in his role as dean of the Graduate School, Priestley hooded his own student Yejoon Seo. “As a mentor, I support and motivate students in my group as they seek to push the boundaries of research in the generation of new knowledge,” Priestley said before the ceremony. “But more importantly, I cherish the personal relationships I’ve been able to form with all my graduate students.”
The advanced degree recipients were honored Monday, and their degrees are formally awarded at Princeton’s 277th Commencement on Tuesday, May 28. The 609 graduate degrees granted during this academic year include:
- 403 Doctor of Philosophy
- 35 Master of Architecture
- 29 Master of Engineering
- 25 Master in Finance
- 25 Master in Public Policy
- 63 Master in Public Affairs
- 29 Master of Science in Engineering
The Hooding and Recognition Ceremony also recognized the 2024 recipients of the Graduate Mentoring Awards, presented by Katherine Stanton, director of the McGraw Center for Teaching and Learning and associate dean of the college. These awards annually recognize faculty members for their exceptional contributions as mentors to Princeton graduate students. Stanton cited the importance of the mentors’ wise counsel as well as their “unstinting dedication to their students.”
This year's winners are Maria DiBattista, the Charles Barnwell Straut Class of 1923 Professor of English (who received her award in absentia); Alison Isenberg, professor of history; Tania Lombrozo, the Arthur W. Marks ’19 Professor of Psychology; and Andrés Monroy-Hernández, an assistant professor of computer science.
“Princeton’s graduate alumni continue to play leadership roles in academia, America and the world,” Rexford said in her remarks. “Your membership in this alumni community is at once an accomplishment and a call to action. I know that each of you will find your own paths of service to the nation and to humanity.”
Master in Public Affairs and Master in Public Policy students line up, waiting for their names to be read by Amaney Jamal, dean of Princeton's School of Public and International Affairs (at podium).
The peacock blue velvet trim on Brent David Efron's collar hints at his master in public affairs degree from Princeton's School of Public and International Affairs.
Several graduates chose to bring their children with them as they were honored by the Graduate School.
The gowns and hoods of academic regalia trace their history to medieval Europe, when heavy woolen robes were necessary in universities' cold stone halls.
Avantika Gori (right) and her child await hooding by Ning Lin (left), a professor of civil and environmental engineering. Gori completed her degree in November 2023 and started as an assistant professor in civil and environmental engineering at Rice University in January 2024.
Engineering graduates celebrate their new degrees.
Taylor Craig Zajicek completed his Ph.D. in history in September 2023, and he is now a Mellon postdoctoral fellow in Columbia University's Harriman Institute for Russian, Eurasian, & East European Studies and a lecturer in the Department of History.
