Princeton University

Nassau notes

Muldoon to read from new poems as part of President’s Lecture Series

Paul Muldoon, the Howard G.B. Clark ’21 University Professor in the Humanities, will present the second talk in this year’s President’s Lecture Series on Thursday, Dec. 8.

The event, titled “In the Horse Latitudes,” will feature the author reading from his new poems at 4:30 p.m. in 101 Friend Center.

Muldoon won the 2003 Pulitzer Prize for poetry for “Moy Sand and Gravel,” his ninth collection of poems. His tenth collection, “Horse Latitudes,” is due to appear in the fall of 2006.

“The title refers to the area 30 degrees north and south of the equator in which sailing ships tend to be becalmed, in which stasis (if not stagnation) is the order of the day,” Muldoon said. “From post-Agreement Ireland to George W. Bush’s America, these poems present us with fields of battle, and fields of debate, in which we often seem to have come to a standstill, but in which language that has been debased may yet be restruck and made current to our predicament.”

The lecture series was initiated by President Tilghman in 2001 to bring together faculty members from different disciplines. The final lecturer of the year will be Katherine Newman, the Malcolm Stevenson Forbes, Class of 1941, Professor of Sociology and Public Affairs, on Monday, April 10.

The lectures will be Webcast; for viewing information, visit www.princeton.edu/webmedia.

Milberg Gallery exhibition

“Stories for the Household,” illustrated by A.W. Bayes, is among the classic works of Hans Christian Andersen on display through March 26 at Firestone Library’s Milberg Gallery. The illustrated editions by a number of artists who have interpreted Andersen’s fairy tales are part of an exhibition, “Wonderful Stories for Pictures: Hans Christian Andersen and His Illustrators,” mounted by the Cotsen Children’s Library in honor of the bicentennial of the author’s birth.

Among other exhibited books, which were published between 1890 and 2005, are illustrated editions of “The Princess and the Pea,” “The Red Shoes” and “The Nightingale.”

Gathering set to remember Davies

A gathering to remember Horton Davies, the Henry W. Putnam Professor of Religion Emeritus, is planned for 1:30 p.m. Saturday, Dec. 10, in Murray-Dodge Hall.

Davies, an authority on the history of Christianity, died May 11 in Princeton at age 89. He served on the Princeton faculty from 1956 until 1984. To read the full obituary, visit www.princeton.edu/main/ news/ archive/ S11/62/50E44/.

The gathering is being organized by the Department of Religion.

Discussion examines Dyson’s book

University of Pennsylvania scholar Michael Eric Dyson and Princeton professor Eddie Glaude will discuss Dyson’s book “Is Bill Cosby Right? Or Has the Black Middle Class Lost Its Mind?” at 4:30 p.m. Tuesday, Dec. 6, in Dodds Auditorium, Robertson Hall.

The discussion is titled “Is Michael Eric Dyson Right? Or Have the New Black Public Intellectuals Lost Their Minds?” It will examine Dyson’s criticism of comments made by Cosby in a 2004 speech, in which the comedian contended that social and economic ills among African Americans stem from their failure to take responsibility for their families and communities. Dyson argues in his book that Cosby’s criticisms are an attack by the wealthy “Afristocracy” on the poor “Ghettocracy.”

Dyson is the Avalon Foundation Professor in the Humanities at Penn and a graduate alumnus of Princeton. An ordained Baptist minister, radio commentator and author, he is known for his commentaries on American culture, particularly pertaining to African Americans. Dyson has written 11 books and numerous publications addressing cultural criticism, race theory, religious thought and philosophy.

Glaude is an associate professor of religion and acting director of the Program in African American Studies at Princeton. A graduate alumnus of Princeton, he is the author of “Exodus! Religion, Race and Nation in Early 19th-Century Black America” and “Is It Nation Time? Contemporary Essays on Black Power and Black Nationalism.” He is co-editor, with Cornel West, of the forthcoming “African-American Religious Thought: An Anthology.”

The event is sponsored by the Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs and the Program in African American Studies.

Anthropologist Douglas to speak

Eminent anthropologist Mary Douglas will speak on “Numbering the People of Israel: Biblical and Secular Agendas” at 8 p.m. Wednesday, Dec. 7, in Dodds Auditorium, Robertson Hall.

Douglas, a noted interpreter of the Bible and the author of numerous works on human culture, will present the 28th Carolyn L. Drucker ’80 Memorial Lecture.

Douglas received her doctorate from Oxford University and performed her early fieldwork in the Belgian Congo. Her academic career has included appointments in Great Britain at Oxford University and the University of London, and in the United States at Northwestern University and Princeton. She remains an active researcher as a professor emeritus at University College London.

Her books range from “The Lele of the Kasai” (1963) and “Purity and Danger” (1966) to “Missing Persons” (1998 with Stephen Ney) and “Leviticus as Literature” (1999).

The lecture is sponsored by the Department of Near Eastern Studies, Program in Judaic Studies, Perelman Institute, Department of Anthropology, Center for the Study of Religion, Humanities Council and Department of Religion.

Foundation ethics is topic of talk

Emmett Carson, president and chief executive officer of The Minneapolis Foundation, will deliver a lecture on “Foundation Ethics and Accountability: Ensuring the Public Trust” at 4:30 p.m. Thursday, Dec. 8, in 16 Robertson Hall.

Recognized as one of the nation’s most influential nonprofit leaders, Carson recently was named interim CEO of the Louisiana Disaster Recovery Foundation, which was established to accept donations for relief efforts related to hurricanes Katrina and Rita.

Since his arrival in 1994, Carson has helped The Minneapolis Foundation increase its assets from $186 million to more than $500 million.

Carson earned an MPA and a Ph.D. from the Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs, which is sponsoring the lecture as part of a series of events celebrating the school’s 75th anniversary.

University Art Museum exhibition

“Red Jackson,” a gelatin silver print by Gordon Parks, is among the works included in an exhibition, “Between Image and Concept: Recent Acquisitions in African American Art,” on view at the University Art Museum through Sunday, Feb. 26.

Over the last five years, the museum has significantly increased the size of its African American collection, adding more than 30 works by painters, sculptors, printmakers, photographers and installation artists. The exhibition was made possible with support from the University Center for Human Values.

For more information, visit the University Art Museum Web site at www.princetonartmuseum.org.

Concert features work of Princeton composers

The Boston Sound Collective, an improvisational musical ensemble, will perform a concert featuring works by Princeton composers at 8 p.m. Tuesday, Dec. 6, in Taplin Auditorium, Fine Hall.

The concert will feature compositions by Princeton music department faculty member Dan Trueman and graduate students Newton Armstrong, Betsey Biggs, Seth Cluett, Scott Smallwood and Chris Tignor.

Admission is free. The concert is sponsored by the Composers’ Ensemble.

Drop off coats at Frist through Dec. 15

The Frist Campus Center will serve as a collection site for the Jersey Cares 10th Annual Coat Drive through Thursday, Dec. 15.

Members of the University community are invited to drop off new or gently used winter coats near the Mazo Family Game Room on the 100 Level of Frist between 8 a.m. and 8 p.m. Coats will be distributed to thousands of New Jersey residents who are in need during this winter season.

This service project is sponsored by Frist and is part of the center’s Fifth Anniversary Winter Holiday Festival, a celebration of winter holidays around the world for the campus community that will take place on Wednesday, Dec. 14.

For more information on the Jersey Cares coat drive, visit www.jerseycares.org. For more details on the Frist Winter Holiday Festival, visit www.princeton.edu/frist.