Princeton University Podcasts

The Hooding ceremony for advanced degree candidates was held at 5 p.m. Monday, June 2, in McCarter Theatre. Princeton President Shirley M. Tilghman and Graduate School Dean William Russel presided.

The Class Day ceremony for seniors took place at 10:30 a.m. Monday, June 2, on Cannon Green. The program included the awarding of various prizes to classmates, student speeches, honorary class member inductions, a review of the class history, and remarks by President Shirley M. Tilghman. *Note* Stephen Colbert's keynote address is not featured in this podcast.

The Baccalaureate service took place at 2 p.m. Sunday, June 1, in the University Chapel. The speaker was Paul Farmer, the medical anthropologist and physician who founded the international charity organization Partners in Health.

William D. Zabel '58 spoke to alumni at Reunions about estate planning. Zabel is the author of 'The Rich Die Richer, and You Can Too.' As senior partner at the New York firm Schulte Roth and Zabel LLP, he has handled wills and estate matters for many prominent individuals. The seminar was held at the Frist Campus Center on Saturday, May 31st.

Born in Haiti during the brutal Duvalier dictatorship, Edwidge Danticat - whose parents moved to the United States when she was a child, leaving her in the care of relatives - discovered The Word at the foot of family storytellers and in the books of French language writers. As a child, she watched that mixed literary heritage upset as well as comfort her neighbors and countrymen. The staging of an Albert Camus play following a political murder was one of its most striking examples. Inspired by Camus’ landmark essay “Create Dangerously” and his definition of art as “a revolt against everything fleeting and unfinished in the world,” Danticat’s lecture will focus on her experiences, and the experiences of other immigrant artists, living and working - culturally, linguistically and politically - between several sometimes violent and unfriendly worlds. Sponsored jointly by the Center for African American Studies and Princeton University Press, the Toni Morrison Lectures will be held annually and spotlight the new and exciting work of scholars and writers who have risen to positions of prominence both in academe and in the broader world of letters.

The President’s Lecture Series was established by President Shirley M. Tilghman in the fall of 2001 to give Princeton’s faculty an opportunity to learn about the work of their colleagues in other disciplines and to share their research with the University community. First proposed by Alan B. Krueger, the Lynn Bendheim Thoman, Class of 1976, and Robert Bendheim, Class of 1937, Professor in Economics and Public Policy, the lectures are presented three times a year and are open to the public. Past lectures have addressed a wide variety of topics, from “Jane Austen and War” to “How Bacteria Talk to Each Other.”

King Abdullah II, the reigning monarch of the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan, delivered a policy address at Princeton University at noon Friday, Feb. 29, sponsored by Princeton"s Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs. King Abdullah addressed the future of Arab-American relations in the context of the Middle East"s current challenges, particularly how to resolve the Palestinian-Israeli conflict, which Jordan views as the most significant issue facing the region.

Robert Hass, poet laureate of the United States from 1995 to 1997, will read from his latest collection, Time and Materials. Currently chancellor of the Academy of American Poets, Hass has won several awards, including two National Book Critics Circle Awards. He received a Ph.D. in English from Stanford University and teaches at the University of California, Berkeley. His volumes of poetry include Under Wood: New Poems (Ecco Press, 1996); Human Wishes (1989); Praise (1979); and Field Guide (1973), which was selected for the Yale Younger Poets Series. He has cotranslated with Czeslaw Milosz several collections of poetry and is editor or author of several volumes of essays and translation. A Spencer Trask Lecture cosponsored by the Department of English and the Princeton Environmental Institute

The founder and host of American Public Media's "Speaking of Faith" will read from her book. Leigh Schmidt (Department of Religion), Matt Hedstrom (Center for the Study of Religion), and Judith Weisenfeld (Department of Religion) will be the panel participants. Carolyn Rouse, Department of Anthropology, will serve as moderator. A journalist and former diplomat, Krista Tippett conceived the idea for "Speaking of Faith" while consulting for the ecumenical institute of St. John's Abbey, Collegeville. She has hosted and produced the program at American Public Media since it began as an occasional feature in 2000, before taking on its current form as a national weekly program in 2003. Tippett is a graduate of Yale Divinity School and a former Fulbright Scholar. In divided Berlin in the 1980s she reported for The New York Times, Newsweek, the BBC and other international news organizations, and later served as special assistant to the U.S. ambassador to the former West Germany. A Spencer Trask Lecture cosponsored by the Department of Anthropology

The theme of this year's program is immigration, a hotly debated topic today that is relevant to King given his concern for humanity. The keynote address will be delivered by José Huizar, a Princeton trustee and graduate alumnus who is the first Latino immigrant to serve as a member of the Los Angeles City Council. The event will include the presentation of awards to essay, poster and video contest winners in grades 4 through 12 from area schools, who submitted entries reflecting their views on how King might have participated in today's immigration debate. In addition, the University will present the MLK Day Journey Award, recognizing a member of the Princeton faculty, staff or student body who best represents King's continued journey. The event also will include a performance by the CASYM Steel Orchestra of New York. Huizar earned his master's in public affairs and urban and regional planning from Princeton's Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs in 1994. He was named to the University's Board of Trustees in 2005, the same year he was elected to the Los Angeles City Council. As a City Council member, Huizar's focus has included enhancing public safety, strengthening education and youth programs, and building more affordable housing and public transportation. Previously, Huizar served two terms as president of the board of education for the Los Angeles Unified School District. During his tenure, he oversaw plans to build more than 160 new schools within eight years, the largest school construction program in the nation's history. He also led a successful effort to reform the high school curriculum to ensure that all students, regardless of their backgrounds, will complete courses required for admission to one of California's public universities. Huizar, who was born in Zacatecas, Mexico, and raised in Los Angeles, has received numerous awards and distinctions, including being named one of the 100 most influential Hispanics in America by Hispanic Business magazine. He previously served as a deputy city attorney in the Real Estate and Environmental Division of the Los Angeles City Attorney's Office and as an associate with several private law firms. The event is convened by the University's Martin Luther King Day Committee and is coordinated by the Office of Communications and the Office of the Vice Provost for Institutional Equity and Diversity.