Princeton University

Nassau notes

Former CARE head Peter Bell here

Peter Bell, former president of CARE USA, will present a lecture titled “CARE’s Partnership With the U.S. Government: Principles, Pragmatism and Politics” at 4:30 p.m. Monday, April 3, in Dodds Auditorium, Robertson Hall.

Bell recently resigned after 10 years as the head of CARE, one of the world’s largest private relief and development organizations. He is joining the Carter Center as a visiting fellow and will serve as a visiting professor at Emory University’s Rollins School of Public Health.

Bell is a leading figure in global philanthropic and humanitarian initiatives. Prior to joining CARE, he was president of the Edna McConnell Clark Foundation, a senior associate at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace and president of the Inter-American Foundation.

Bell served as special assistant to the secretary and deputy undersecretary of the U.S. Department of Health, Education and Welfare under President Carter in the late 1970s. Prior to that, he held senior positions with the Ford Foundation.

Bell earned his MPA in international affairs from Princeton in 1964. He received the James Madison Medal, the University’s top honor for graduate alumni, in 2002.

The lecture is sponsored by the Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs and the Office of Graduate Career Services.

World Wide Web inventor to lecture

Tim Berners-Lee, inventor of the World Wide Web, will speak at 8 p.m. Wednesday, April 5, in McCosh 50.

His talk, “The Future of the Web,” will cover not only the history of the Web but also the concept and development of the “semantic Web.”

Berners-Lee is director of the World Wide Web Consortium, an international group whose staff and member organizations work together to develop Web standards. The semantic Web is an initiative of the consortium aimed at creating a universal medium in which the databases that form the basis of all Web documents can be integrated and accessed more efficiently.

Berners-Lee also holds the 3Com Founders Chair at the Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Lab at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and is a professor of computer science at the University of Southampton. He invented the World Wide Web in 1989 while working at CERN, the European Particle Physics Laboratory.

The talk, designated as a Spencer Trask Lecture, is sponsored by the Public Lecture Series.

Scotland’s first minister to speak

Jack McConnell, first minister of Scotland, will speak at 4:30 p.m. Thursday, April 6, in 101 McCormick Hall as part of a celebration of Tartan Day.

McConnell, whose position is equivalent to prime minister, will discuss “Scotland’s Values, Ideas and Ambitions, From John Witherspoon to Today” and will highlight the connections between Witherspoon, Princeton, Scotland and the United States. While the address is open to the public, those interested are asked to register to attend by calling 258-5980.

Tartan Day is formally appointed as the day of celebration of past and present links between Scotland and the United States. Tartan Day itself, April 6, was chosen because it is the date in 1320 that the Declaration of Arbroath (a declaration of Scottish sovereignty) was signed. The Declaration of Arbroath is recognized by historians as one of the models upon which the U.S. Declaration of Independence is based. In addition to Princeton, McConnell also will be participating in events during that week that will showcase modern Scotland in New York, North Carolina and Washington, D.C.

He is coming to the University, in part, because of the strong historic ties to Witherspoon, Princeton’s sixth president from 1768 to 1794. Witherspoon was born in Scotland and served as a pastor there until taking the Princeton job. A leading member of the Continental Congress, he was the only clergyman and only college president to sign the Declaration of Independence. In honor of Witherspoon’s contributions in this country and in Scotland, twin statues by acclaimed Scottish sculptor Alexander Stoddard were installed in 2001 — one near East Pyne Hall at Princeton and one at the University of Paisley in Scotland.

Conceptual realist painter

Conceptual realist painter Peter Dreher will give an illustrated talk on his work at 4:30 p.m. Tuesday, April 4, in Room 219 of 185 Nassau St. He also will conduct workshops from noon to 2 p.m. Wednesday and Thursday, April 5-6, in Room 220.

Dreher, who has been professor of painting at Freiburg University in Germany since 1968, is known worldwide for his series, “Day by Day Is a Good Day” (“The Glass”). He began the conceptual experiment in paint in the early ’70s and continues it to this day: the same glass in the same environment in the same position — only the painter’s subjectivity is variable. He has some 4,000 pictures of the glass to his credit.

The events are sponsored by the Program in Visual Arts. The workshops are open only to the University community; to sign up, call 258-8560 or e-mail lawson@princeton.edu.

The event is sponsored by the University and the Historical Society of Princeton.

‘Identity and Stereotype Threat’ is topic

Identity and Stereotype Threat: Powerful Influences for Student Development, Achievement and Performance” is the title of a talk set for 7:30 p.m. Thursday, April 6, in McCosh 50.

Valerie Purdie-Vaughns, professor of psychology at Yale University, will present the lecture, which is part of the Princeton Varsity Club Jake McCandless Speaker Series.

Purdie-Vaughns’ primary area of research is stigma and intergroup processes with a focus on social identity threat. She gives particular emphasis to how organizations such as businesses and schools can inadvertently undermine the institutional trust and intellectual performance of underrepresented minorities.

Co-sponsors of this event are the Pace Center and its Class Matters initiative.

Talk focuses on cultural diplomacy

The Reversible Decline of U.S. Cultural Diplomacy” is the subject of a lecture by Richard Arndt, president of Americans for UNESCO, scheduled for 4:30 p.m. Wednesday, April 5, in 16 Robertson Hall.

Arndt’s group aims to support U.S. participation with the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), in collaboration with government agencies, research institutes, universities and nongovernmental organizations.

UNESCO was established in 1945 by the United Nations as a specialized agency to promote international peace and security through education, science and cultural understanding and communication. The United States joined UNESCO at its founding, withdrew in 1984 but rejoined the organization in 2003.

Arndt worked for 24 years in the U.S. Foreign Service, served as president of the U.S. Fulbright Association and chaired the National Peace Foundation.

Arndt earned an A.B. in modern languages and literature from Princeton in 1949 and a master’s degree from the Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs in 1972. The lecture is sponsored by the Wilson School.

Watercolors on display

“Flox Flamingos” is among the watercolors on display in a show by Maria Klawe, dean of the School of Engineering and Applied Science, through April 11 at the E-Quad Café. The exhibition is part of a series in the café featuring artists affiliated with the school.

Princeton Laptop Orchestra premieres

The Princeton Laptop Orchestra (PLOrk) will perform at 8 p.m. Tuesday, April 4, in Richardson Auditorium, Alexander Hall.

Special guest performers will be the New York City-based quartet So Percussion, accordion legend Pauline Oliveros and tabla virtuoso Zakir Hussain.

Directed by Dan Trueman, assistant professor of music, and Perry Cook, associate professor of computer science, PLOrk is a new ensemble of 15 musicians, each using a laptop computer and a variety of control devices to produce music through a six-channel hemispherical speaker. PLOrk, which is featured in the April issue of Wired Magazine, has been the basis for a freshman seminar last fall and a senior/graduate seminar this semester.

This premiere concert will include new music by computer-music pioneer Paul Lansky, professor of music at Princeton, as well as works by Trueman, Cook and others.

Tickets are $10 for the general public; $6 for students; and free for Tiger Tickets holders. They are available through University Ticketing or the Richardson box office.

CD of Messineo organ performances available

A CD of performances by David Messineo, principal University organist from 2000 to 2004, is now available through the chapel music office.

Messineo, a gifted musician who had played the organ since he was 11, died in June 2004 at age 45.

The CD, “David Messineo at Princeton University,” features 11 selections from concerts at the University Chapel, including Aaron Copland’s “Fanfare for the Common Man” and Charles-Marie Widor’s “Symphonie VI in G Major.”

Also on the recording is C. Hubert Parry’s “I Was Glad” performed with the University Chapel Choir.

Copies are available for $17 from Penna Rose, director of chapel music, at prose@princeton.edu.

CPR training offered

Free CPR training is available for members of the campus community from 3 to 6 p.m. and 7 to 10 p.m. Tuesday and Wednesday, April 4-5, in the Frist Campus Center Multipurpose Room A.

University Health Services and Outdoor Action are sponsoring the training in coordination with the American Heart Association’s annual “CPR Week.”

Each session will be limited to 30 participants. To register, e-mail Gina Baral at gbaral@princeton.edu or call 258-5036.

The training is based on the AHA’s “Heart Saver” course. Participants who wish to obtain the association’s “Heart Saver” certification will be charged $12.50.