Famous alumni examined future careers in senior theses

When seniors hand in their theses this month, they will become part of a tradition that dates back 75 years and will join thousands of alumni who have shared their struggles and accomplishments.

During the past three-quarters of a century, many students — who would later become famous actors, powerful politicians and business moguls — have passed through FitzRandolph Gate. But in order to get there, they too had to complete senior independent work.

Actors Dean Cain '88 and Brooke Shields '87 wrote their theses on the subject that made them famous — the film industry. Before Cain went into acting and became renowned as Superman on the television program, "The Adventures of Lois and Clark," the history major used his thesis to trace the development of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. In his thesis, Cain analyzed the impact of historic events on the film industry.

Unlike Cain, Shields already had made a name for herself in the film industry before she came to the University, having appeared in 12 movies including "The Blue Lagoon." In her thesis, Shields — who majored in Romance Languages and Literatures — examined the role of the child protagonist in the films of French director Louis Malle. Shields was able to use firsthand experience to analyze the protagonist of "Pretty Baby" — the character Violet, whom she played in the 1978 film.

"This study highlights an intellectual aspect of the world of cinema that needs to be recognized," Shields wrote in the opening of her thesis. "It further confirms my own interest in the field of film and excites me towards a devotion to a world I am on the threshold of entering."

Before English major David Duchovny '82 searched for the truth in the night skies as Mulder in "The X-Files," he searched for it in the pages of Samuel Beckett's early novels. In his senior thesis, Duchovny explored themes in Beckett's works and examined the author's major characters.

"Day by day, coming up with new symbols for the unknowable," Duchovny concluded, "one could get frustrated and narrate a single meaning to be the truth or one could go on finding new references until one dies." Strangely enough, this ending seems to echo the familiar Mulder mantra — "The truth is out there."

Princeton graduates who vied for the Oval Office during the 2000 presidential race also employed knowledge gained while writing their theses. Though Bill Bradley '65 and Steve Forbes '70 have dropped out of the race, Ralph Nader '55 is still seeking the Green Party nomination.

Nader — who wrote his thesis for the Wilson School on Lebanese agriculture — said in an interview yesterday that his independent research helped shape the views he advocates and form certain planks of his platform.

"It certainly sensitized me to rural people and the challenges they face," Nader said. "I realized the importance of rural areas to a nation."

Nader said as part of his research he did field work in the valleys of Lebanon and spoke with U.S. embassy attachés about domestic and foreign agriculture. Through his research, Nader said he came to understand "the plight of the small farmer in America."

Both Bradley and Forbes spent the spring semester of their senior years researching specific political events. Bradley's thesis — "On That Record I Stand" — outlined Harry Truman's race for a U.S. Senate seat in Missouri in 1940.

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"I chose this topic in order to become more intimately acquainted with the political structure of Missouri," Bradley wrote. Perhaps his research into Truman's senate campaign propelled Bradley down the path toward his New Jersey senatorship and subsequent presidential campaign.

Forbes chose the 1892 Democratic presidential race between Grover Cleveland and David Bennett Hill as the topic for his thesis. Forbes challenged historical stereotypes of the elite and drew parallels between 1890s politics and 1970s politics.

"New Deal Liberalism has become stale just as Jacksonian laissez-faire had become to Cleveland's," Forbes wrote.

Business

Meg Whitman '77, CEO of the Internet titan eBay, may have learned as an undergraduate in the economics department the business strategies that made her — according to Fortune magazine — the nation's second most powerful business woman. In her thesis, "Marketing of American Consumer Products in Western Europe," Whitman analyzed marketing strategies and explored various market entry methods.

"The analytical framework is crucial to any company's attempt to plan its international operations 'in a highly competitive and volatile world market,' " wrote Whitman, foreshadowing her own career as an international business mogul.