Sophomore year roommates honored with Pyne Prize

Friends since their first few days on campus, seniors Dan Hantman and Chris Wendell were brought together again Saturday when the two were awarded the Pyne Honor Prize — the University's highest general award for an undergraduate.

"It makes it very special to share the award with Dan. It makes it very meaningful," Wendell said.

Hantman, a Spanish major from New Hampshire, said he was surprised when he found out several weeks ago that he would be awarded on Alumni Day. "You never feel like you really deserve it," he said.

Wendell, an English major and U-Councillor from San Francisco, said the University did not know the two were sophomore year roommates until after they were chosen.

At the ceremony, President Tilghman congratulated the two for their academic achievements and contributions to the University community.

Their contributions began as soon as they arrived on campus. Both participated in Urban Action — now Community Action — in the Martin House group, an urban renewal project in Trenton.

Since then, the two have continued to have an impact on University life.

Hantman, former president of Campus Club, has been the chair of the Inter-Club Council over the last year. He explained his role as a coordinator and facilitator to bring in dialog among the clubs, the University and the town.

A challenge, he said, was working with those who insist on the separation of the three entities, which are entirely distinct institutions.

"At the same time, as individuals we're still all a part of the same community," Hantman said. "I always thought about it in those terms."

Hantman said he is enjoying a unique aspect of the Department of Spanish and Portuguese. The nature of the material and the small size of the department allow his work to be more independent and personal, he said.

"You get so much of personal challenges. Attention, yes. It almost allows you to operate more like a grad student," he said.

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"My work really belongs to me," he said.

Hantman spent his junior fall abroad in Argentina, and he said he may spend a year in South America — thanks to the Pyne prize's monetary component — before attending law school.

Hantman, who has stage managed three shows at Princeton, said he is still good friends with Wendell — who finished directing William Shakespeare's "Measure for Measure" at 185 Nassau Street this weekend.

The play — part of Wendell's senior thesis, which will also include a scholarly paper — was sold out in its last two performances.

"I probably learned more about the play directing it than I could limiting myself to scholarly inquiry," said Wendell, co-president of the Performing Arts Council.

Wendell has also been the general manager and a board member for Theatre Intime.

Last summer, he traveled to England to study in the Acting Shakespeare program of the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art.

In the summer, Wendell will start as a directing/producing intern at McCarter Theatre, where he will help in planning, scheduling, budgeting and casting several shows, he said.

"It is pretty exciting. It's going to be a great job," Wendell said.

Wendell is also active in the Episcopal Church of Princeton, where he has helped to promote "a very open and welcoming chaplaincy."

"That's been a very meaningful experience to me in the last year," he said.

Wendell has received the Shapiro Prize for Academic Excellence and the Francis Biddle Sophomore Prize in English for the best critical essay of the year.

In addition to awarding the Moses Taylor Pyne Honor Prize — awarded to the senior who has most clearly manifested excellent scholarship, strength of character and effective leadership — the University also awarded two graduate students the Porter Ogden Jacobus Fellowship.

Graduate students Sarah-Jane Murray and Joshua Plotkin were co-winners of the fellowship, which supports the final year of graduate study. It is awarded to two students — one in the humanities or social sciences, the other in engineering or natural sciences — whose work has displayed the highest scholarly excellence.