Princeton University

Nassau Notes

Microsoft Chairman Bill Gates to visit

Microsoft Corp. Chairman and Chief Software Architect William (Bill) H. Gates will visit Princeton on Friday, Oct. 14, to engage students in a discussion about the evolving role of computer technology in today’s world. He also will receive the Crystal Tiger award from students for his global leadership.

The Princeton visit, titled “A Conversation with Bill Gates,” is scheduled for 11:30 a.m. in Richardson Auditorium, Alexander Hall. Seating will be limited to the campus community, with Princeton students given priority. The visit is part of a college tour that Gates initiated to talk to faculty and students in the computer sciences about topics related to research and innovation.

“Bill Gates is bringing our students an important message,” said Maria Klawe, dean of Princeton’s School of Engineering and Applied Science. “Computer science is not the narrow, purely technical field that it is perceived to be. It is an exciting opportunity for students with many backgrounds and interests to make a positive difference in the world.”

After his address, Gates will receive the Crystal Tiger, an award established by Princeton undergraduates to honor individuals who have acted as leaders to help transform their lives. Former Secretary of State Colin Powell received the inaugural Crystal Tiger during a visit to Princeton last year.

In their invitation to Gates, the student award committee described him as an agent of change who has used his talents and resources to improve the lives of people around the world.

“You have succeeded, not simply as an innovator and a businessman, but also as a transformative leader in the global community,” the students wrote. “You have been a driving force in some of the most important issues in the last quarter century, from changing the way that we communicate, to enhancing the way we tackle AIDS in the developing world.”

President Tilghman commended the students for their choice: “Bill Gates’ entrepreneurial skills have made his name a household word. But the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation and its precursors have also made enormous contributions to the fields of health and education, extended vital help to public libraries and improved the lives of disadvantaged families.”

Tickets for the Gates address are being made available to students, faculty and staff with Princeton University IDs through an online lottery in which students will receive first priority. The lottery will open at 9 a.m. Monday, Oct. 3, and will close at 6 p.m. Thursday, Oct. 6. The event also will be simulcast in McCosh 10, with further details to be announced soon. Check the University home page at www.princeton.edu for event updates.

Steve Martin to read from his work

Steve Martin—perhaps best known as an actor and comedian—will read from his work at 4:30 p.m. Wednesday, Oct. 5, in McCosh 50. He will be introduced by Joyce Carol Oates, the Roger S. Berlind ’52 Professor in the Humanities.

In addition to performing, Martin has written many screenplays and two novellas. He recently completed work on a Touchstone Pictures film, “Shopgirl,” adapted from his first novella of the same name. He produced, wrote and starred in the film, which opens Oct. 21 and also features Claire Danes and Jason Schwartzman.

The event is part of the Creative Writing Program’s Althea Ward Clark Reading Series.

Energy crisis is focus of talk

Oil industry expert Edward Morse will deliver a lecture titled “Today’s Energy Crisis: It’s Bigger Than 1973,” at 4:30 p.m. Wednesday, Oct. 5, in 16 Robertson Hall.

Morse has been a leading specialist on the international oil and gas sector for more than two decades. He was deputy assistant secretary of state for international energy policy from 1978 to 1981, serving as the department’s most senior official devoted full-time to energy issues.

Morse currently is an executive adviser to the Hess Energy Trading Co., which he joined in 1999 after more than a decade as publisher of Petroleum Intelligence Weekly and other oil and gas industry newsletters.

Morse earned his Ph.D. in politics from Princeton in 1969. He has taught at Princeton, Columbia and Johns Hopkins universities and has been a senior fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations.

The lecture is sponsored by the Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs.

Presidential debate adviser gives inside view

Robert Barnett, a Washington, D.C., lawyer who has advised several Democratic presidential candidates, will discuss “Presidential Debates: An Insider’s View” at 4:30 p.m. Thursday, Oct. 6, in 16 Robertson Hall.

Barnett, a senior partner at the Washington-based firm Williams & Connolly, has focused on debate preparation as an adviser to several national campaigns, working with Walter Mondale, Geraldine Ferraro, Michael Dukakis, Bill Clinton, Joe Lieberman and John Edwards. He also advised Hillary Clinton in her 2000 senatorial campaign.

Barnett has represented major U.S corporations and public figures. In 2004, he ranked atop Washingtonian magazine’s list of the city’s best lawyers.

The lecture is sponsored by the Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs and is part of a series of events celebrating the school’s 75th anniversary.

Conference to honor Mote

A conference to honor the memory of Princeton Professor Emeritus of East Asian Studies Frederick Mote is planned for Friday and Saturday, Oct. 7-8, in the Multipurpose Room of the Frist Campus Center.

Mote played a key role in advancing the study of China and East Asia at Princeton, working with others to create a rigorous Chinese language program and to expand the holdings of the Gest East Asian Library. He died Feb. 10 in Aurora, Colo., at age 82 following a long illness.

The conference will run from 9:30 a.m. to 4 p.m. Friday. From 9:30 to 11 a.m. Saturday, there will be an open floor for reminiscences and reflections on Mote.

For more information, contact Courtney Palmbush in the Program in East Asian Studies at 258-9350 or palmbush@princeton.edu.

Junior independent work

This untitled piece by Temitayo Ogunbiyi is included in an exhibition of junior independent work by seniors in the Program in Visual Arts through Oct. 9. The show is on view at the Lucas Gallery, 185 Nassau St., from 9 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Monday through Friday.

Event explores photography’s limits

A two-day symposium, “Dark Rooms: Photography and Invisibility,” is scheduled for Friday and Saturday, Oct. 7-8, in 101 Friend Center.

Scholars from Europe, Canada and the United States will examine the ways photography has been used to document and explore the limits of the visible and the world of the invisible, from its invention through the early 20th century. The symposium coincides with a current exhibition at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York titled “The Perfect Medium: Photography and the Occult.”

The event was organized by Anne McCauley, the David Hunter McAlpin Professor of the History of Photography and Modern Art. It is sponsored by the David A. Gardner ’69 Magic Project and the Department of Art and Archaeology.

A full schedule and an online registration form are available at web.princeton.edu/sites/ ArtandArchaeology/DarkRooms/.

University Art Museum exhibition

“Priam at the Feet of Achilles,” an 1876 painting by Joseph Wencker, is among the works on view in an exhibition, “The Legacy of Homer: Four Centuries of Art from the École Nationale Supérieure des Beaux-Arts, Paris,” at the University Art Museum Oct. 8 through Jan. 15. The Princeton museum and the Dahesh Museum of Art in New York have forged a partnership to present the exhibition, which showcases 130 paintings, sculptures, drawings and prints from a legendary collection that has been closed to the public since the French educational reforms of 1968. It will include works by French masters that bring Homer’s vision to life. Works dating from the 17th through the 18th century will be presented at the University Art Museum, while primarily 19th-century painting, sculpture and works on paper will be presented at the Dahesh. For more information on the exhibition and related events, visit the University Art Museum Web site at www.princetonartmuseum.org.