When a high-pitched whine pierces the normal hum of campus, most students take little notice as a few unlucky residents wander out to the quad, resigned to several minutes of another fire alarm.
Princeton Future, a citizen group concerned with the prosperity and development of Princeton Township and Borough, has announced its immediate building goals for the upcoming year.
Anne-Marie Slaughter '80, dean of the Wilson School, has been nominated to the Board of Directors of the McDonald's Corporation, the multinational fast food chain.Shareholders will vote to confirm Slaughter's nomination on May 20 at their annual meeting.Joining the board "gives me the chance to see the workings of a major corporation," and the different sorts of management challenges that scenario presents, Slaughter said."I've been very impressed with their commitment to social responsibility," she added.McDonald's is looking to add significantly to its board and is looking to find a young and diverse group of people as it does so.
As part of the University's "Do the Right Thing" panel discussion series, President Tilghman served as a "guest ethicist" Thursday night.Fielding questions from the crowd that gathered in the Mathey college common room, she explained her ethical perspective on a variety of issues.Tilghman offered an ethical defense in response to a student's question concerning Dean Malkiel's new grading standard proposal.She explained how Dean Malkiel was motivated by ethical issues to reevaluate grading policy to correct perceived inflation."There is a fundamental problem with the way grades are being distributed," Tilghman said.
Four juniors, the maximum number possible from any one university, won the 2004-2005 Goldwater Scholarship, a prestigious award given to students in the fields of mathematics, the natural sciences and engineering.The award, given by the Barry M.
One of the University's most versatile buildings, Chancellor Green, has recently reopened with two more functions ? to serve as a study space for students and a center for lectures.The High Victorian Gothic-style building, located directly beside East Pyne on the northern side of campus, was originally built in 1872.
Following a review of grading practices in spring 2003, the University released a set of proposals Wednesday to reduce grade inflation in undergraduate courses and departments.The proposals, distributed to department chairs by Dean of the College Nancy Weiss Malkiel on behalf of the Faculty Committee on Examinations and Standing, could be voted on as early as the April 26 faculty meeting.If approved, the proposals would limit the number of A-range grades to 35 percent of the grades in undergraduate courses, and 55 percent of the grades for independent work."In recent years at Princeton and at our peer institutions grades have been given within a very compressed frame so it's been hard for students to know work is really superb," Malkiel said at a meeting with undergraduates yesterday."The new policy would take us back to the way we were grading at Princeton in the early nineties and would push students to grow as scholars."Grade inflation has been a contentious issue at universities around the country. Set apartIf approved, the University's proposals would set Princeton apart from other higher education institutions and perhaps put some pressure upon them to follow its lead."The last half dozen years has seen serious discussion among our peer institutions about this issue and our actions have seem to have impressed them," she said."If we succeed in this endeavor it would make it harder for others to throw up their hands and say they can't do it."The policy would be implemented by individual departments, though they would be able to adopt different models tailored to their unique sizes and other factors, Malkiel said.The proposal would not set a limit on the number of As given in individual classes, but would set a ceiling on the number of As departments could award.
Lee Mitchell, a University English professor for over 20 years, has resigned from his position as master of Butler College after being suspended as a member of the faculty, University Vice President and Secretary Bob Durkee '69 confirmed Wednesday night."Professor Mitchell has submitted a letter resigning as master at the end of this academic year," Durkee said in an interview, adding that Dean of the College Nancy Malkiel has already begun a search for Mitchell's replacement.Mitchell's resignation, which comes during his first year as master of the college, was the result of a one-year suspension by Dean of the Faculty David Dobkin over the improper use of funds in an English department account meant to support the professor's research, Durkee said.Though Durkee declined to share specific details concerning how the research funds were "inappropriately spent," one senior University official said the "ballpark" figure was approximately $20,000 over a period of eight or nine years.
Four professors and three teaching assistants were recognized and honored for their teaching abilities during the Semiannual Engineering Council Teaching Awards for Excellence in Undergraduate Education held Wednesday.This year's recipients included graduate students Anne Staples for MAE 335, Bryan Patel for CHE 345 and Hafize Ekran for ORF 309.The other awards went to computer science lecturer Robert Dondero, electrical engineering professor Ed Zschau, electrical engineering professor Sanjeev Kulkarni and geoscience professor Gregory van der Vink.The award, first given in 1988 to recognize quality teaching, is the only undergraduate-initiated award on campus, Teaching Award co-chair Sarah Moore '06 said."It's a way for students to tell teachers 'you inspire us ? thank you,'" Maria Klawe, dean of the engineering school, said.
Reggae music will liven up the site of thea annual fifth reunion party behind Little Hall when Bob Marley's The Wailers play for the USG spring concert on April 17.The concert, which is free, will be held from 2 to 5 p.m.
This summer Princeton students will witness the revamping of one of the University's most visited sites ? its homepage."The question we are trying to answer here is how do you include the most information possible while still making the webpage useful, easy to navigate, quick and aesthetically pleasing," said Juan Lessing '05, a member of a student focus group which is working in conjunction with OIT and the Undergraduate Life Committee to reconstruct the website.The collaborative effort plans "to bring the University webpage to where a lot of . . . universities across America [are]," said Rishi Jaitly '04, another member of the student focus group.And there is room for improvement, the students say.Student groups who want to advertise their events in the Headlines or Announcements section frequently have trouble gaining access to this "powerful way of advertising things," Jaitly said.Even with many student group events occurring daily, the organizations could benefit greatly from a homepage modification that provides more advertising space, Jaitly said, adding that groups could alternate announcements on the page to allow for more equal publicity.The group, which began meeting toward the end of fall semester, will provide recommendations to OIT "concerning the new website's content, navigability and appearance," Raj Hathiramani '07, another member of the student focus group and a 'Prince' staff writer, said."Overall the goal is to keep the webpage as technologically up-to-date as possible and to meet the changing needs of the student body and University community at large," Lessing said.The homepage does change "once in a while" and the format for the homepage changed last year too, Lessing added.Describing the current effort to transform the website, Lessing said.
Students will no longer have to struggle with fickle proximity readers to enter dorms and department buildings, after OIT begins replacing them this month.In collaboration with staff members from Facilities, Dining Services and Public Safety, the University's identification card system will be revamped over the summer.Becky Goodman, manager of OIT software services, said roughly 500 proximity (prox) readers will be replaced ? improving campus security and reducing systemic problems.With a swipe of an ID card imbedded with a programmable prox chip, the prox readers provide access to campus dormitories and academic buildings.However, the current prox chips do not always function correctly, and the existing technology is patented and available through only one vendor."The prox reader for 1938 Hall is very annoying at times," Lee Tien '07 said.
Margaret Cho, a comedienne famous for creating her own unique style of controversial and feminist humor, will be appearing on campus April 22.The show, which will open with comedian Bruce Daniels, is sponsored by the Class of 2005.The class officers wanted to take "a different approach to USG," president Azalea Kim '05 said.
A quick scroll through the list of events at the Center for Jewish Life reveals one event that is slightly out of the ordinary: Israeli Cafe and Hookah Night, Tuesday, 10 p.m.
Though a quick perusal of pop culture might lead you to believe otherwise, tattoos are clearly no longer the the latest craze ? if tattooing were that hip, University students would be first in the chair.The tattooed few here at the University, however, are not just casual tattoo fans.
The lands along Alexander Road and Harrison Street will likely be the sites of future academic and research facilities, University officials recently told members of the Princeton Regional Planning Board.The announcement, made last Wednesday, marked a shift from the University's previous longterm expansion strategy, which called for the development of a parallel campus on the West Windsor lands between Lake Carnegie and Route 1."We've become increasingly focused on the longterm importance of trying to make sure that the basic academic and educational buildings remain on this side of [Lake Carnegie]," said Bob Durkee '69, University vice president and secretary.The revised strategy is aimed at containing all academic facilities and undergraduate dorms within a 10-minute walk of Frist Campus Center, he said."I don't think this is going to be very dramatic," Durkee said.
As students choose next semester's courses, they will once again have at their fingertips the advice of the Undergraduate Student Government's Student Course Guide, an online resource that is now a staple of the University's course selection process."I think that the Student Course Guide is an invaluable resource that helps students to choose their courses," Shoum Chakravarti '05, USG academics chair and editor of the SCG, said in an email.
As University geosciences professor Daniel Sigman was growing up in southern California, he considered structure to be an entirely man-made phenomenon.
The month of April is a hectic time for seniors, who are in the midst of completing their theses ? the Princeton rite of passage.
A dozen gerbils is an unlikely collection to find anywhere, let alone in a University dorm room. But one junior ? we'll call him 'Jim' ? has assempled just this cast of characters in a cage in his suite's common room.Jim's gerbil colony started when he bought two of the tiny rodens from a pet store this winter, he said.Then, as gerbils will, the pair began to multiply, resulting in the twelve animals he currently cares for.According to the University's "Rights, Rules and Responsibilities" handbook, "Only fish may be kept in dormitory rooms, and tanks are not to exceed 10 gallons."The gerbil-owning junior is not alone in his decision to violate the rules and own a pet.
