From WWS to PAW: Marks GS '86 writes her way back to Nassau Hall

Marilyn Marks GS '86's life has taken her from the hallowed halls of the University's Wilson School to the intifada-ridden streets of Jerusalem in the late 1980s to the semitropical environs of Miami. She has remained a journalist throughout — at heart even when not in practice. And now, as the new editor of the Princeton Alumni Weekly, Marks has found her way back to Old Nassau and journalism.

A Philadelphia native, Marks did her undergraduate work at Syracuse University, where she earned a dual degree in sociology and journalism from the prestigious Newhouse School. Immediately out of college, Marks began her career as a journalist writing for the Courier-News, a local daily newspaper based in Bridgewater. While working at the Courier-News, Marks said she got a sense that to be a good reporter and to have the kind of career she aspired to, she would need to study some subjects in greater depth, particularly economics.

"I wanted to be able to report on and analyze public issues," Marks said.

So she decided to go back to school to earn a graduate degree. Marks was accepted to the Wilson School, where she pursued an MPA with a focus on domestic policy.

"It was perfect for me," Marks said. "It was exactly what I needed." One of the program's requirements was that students work in some aspect of public affairs during the summer between their first and second years. In keeping with her journalistic aspirations, Marks spent that summer writing for the National Journal, a Washington, D.C., magazine covering public policy.

In a chance conversation with a fellow reporter at the National Journal, Marks learned that journalist and author William Greider was looking for a research assistant. Marks had read one of Greider's books for a class at the Wilson School the previous academic year and had become a big fan of his. Marks applied for the job, met with Greider and was accepted for the position. She took off the next academic year to help Greider on his book about the Federal Reserve titled "Secrets of the Temple."

Marks later returned to the Wilson School to finish her degree.

"I think I had a very limited view of the world (including my opportunities in it) until I got here," Marks said in an email. "The people at the WWS — and I include students as well as faculty members — changed that. They thought very broadly about issues and about how different things — like politics, economics, education, urban development, science — interrelate. I found this challenging and exciting."

From Princeton Marks went on to work for The St. Petersburg Times in St. Petersburg, Florida.

"[It's] a wonderful newspaper, one of the best jobs I ever had," Marks said.

After two years in St. Petersburg, Marks was ready for something new and exciting.

"I wanted to have a great adventure before I settled down, so I went to Jerusalem," she said. "That was cool."

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Upon arrival in Israel, Marks went to live on a "kibbutz," a Jewish socialist community. Her time there was divided between labor and education. Marks worked three days a week, sometimes in an industrial bakery, frequently at night, and sometimes taking care of children, she studied in an intensive Hebrew language "ulpan" three days a week and then enjoyed Saturday as a much-needed day of rest. In the bakery, Marks worked on the bread line braiding "challah," the traditional Jewish bread eaten every Sabbath and on holidays. Marks recalls the time she spent braiding and talking politics with the kibbutzniks at 2 a.m.

Fresh from the hard labor of the kibbutz, Marks joined the staff of The Jerusalem Post, the English language newspaper based in Israel. Prior to leaving for Israel, Marks had sent a letter of introduction and writing samples to Wolf Blitzer, the CNN reporter who was then working for the Post. She didn't know Blitzer personally and was fairly certain he had never heard of her before. This gutsy show of eager ambition paid off. Blitzer referred Marks to an editor and gave her his endorsement as well. At the Post, Marks worked at the business desk doing mainly editing work and some writing.

Upon Marks' return to the United States she went back to Florida to work for The Miami Herald.

"I think that South Florida is the best news town in the country, or certainly one of them," Marks said. "There's always interesting stuff happening in South Florida."

For most of her roughly eight-year tenure with the Herald, Marks covered K-12 education, a subject where she felt comfortable having written her master's thesis at the Wilson School on public school reform in New Jersey. Education was also a subject dear to Marks' heart since childhood.

"A lot of my interest comes from my mother, who was a teacher in a public elementary school in Philadelphia for almost 40 years," Marks said.

Meanwhile, there were changes in Marks' personal life. One of the reasons Marks had decided to return to Florida was that her soon-to-be fiance preferred the warmer climate of Miami to the more inhospitable vicissitudes of weather common in Marks' native northeast.

Marks married in 1990 and in 1998 she and her husband were expecting a child. At this point, Marks decided to leave the Herald.

"I felt that it would be very difficult for me to balance having a baby with the kind of hours I was putting in at The Miami Herald," Marks said, adding that the hours of a journalist are often unpredictable.

After leaving the Herald, Marks went to work for the South Florida Annenberg Challenge, a local chapter of a national, nonprofit school reform effort funded in part by philanthropist Walter Annenberg. She worked both in communications and programming for the Annenberg project.

After the birth of her daughter, Marks worked for the Annenberg Challenge part time. But as her daughter got older, Marks was thinking about returning to work full time. Before she had even applied for any other jobs, Marks found out that Princeton was hiring.

"One Sunday morning I was reading The New York Times and there, in the Week in Review section, was an ad from Princeton University, seeking a media relations manager," she said.

Marks applied for the job and was accepted.

"It seemed to me perfect, I mean what fate," Marks said. "It really felt like a homecoming."

Marks' time as director of media relations was a busy one for the University.

"From the time that I arrived until the time that I left, it was one major news story after another," Marks said. Among these stories were President Shapiro's stepping-down, the appointment of President Tilghman, the saga of Cornel West GS '80's departure from Harvard and his decision to join the University faculty and the Yale admissions computer scandal that made headlines this summer.

"It was very busy but very rewarding," Marks said. "I got to know parts of the University that I never would have known before."

Most recently, Marks was named the new editor of the Princeton Alumni Weekly.

"This is a way for me to get back to journalism, which I have missed. That's what I have spent most of my career doing," Marks said.

Although she has only published two issues so far — the PAW publishes 17 times yearly — Marks has already brought innovation to the alumni publication, including a new interview feature, a column about University classes and a revamped books page.

Looking back on her professional career, Marks recognizes the good fortune she has had in her endeavors, from landing a job working for Greider to winning Blitzer's approval to having the opportunities with the Annenberg Project and later Princeton's communications office appear as if conjured by her.

"It seems like I've had a lot of lucky things in my life," Marks said.

Marks lives in Plainsboro with her husband and daughter who is now almost five years old and attends U-NOW, the Princeton University Day Nursery.

"It just seems like a wonderful place to raise a child," she said of Princeton.