People
Staff appointments
Karen J. Weaver
Karen J. Weaver, a 1994 Princeton alumna, has returned to the University as associate dean for academic affairs and diversity in the Graduate School.
Prior to coming to Princeton, she had served since 2005 as the executive director of the Amistad Commission within the New Jersey Department of State. There she oversaw statewide implementation of the Amistad mandate, which requires New Jersey’s public schools to integrate African American history into the K-12 curriculum. She previously worked for three years as an educational consultant, providing services to a wide range of clients.
At Princeton, she will work closely with David Redman, associate dean for academic affairs in the Graduate School, and will have primary responsibility for recruiting and retaining underrepresented graduate students.
“We feel very fortunate to have attracted Karen back to Princeton University,” said William Russel, dean of the Graduate School. “I value her experience in higher education at Columbia and her success in creating a model program to address the Amistad mandate. She has much to contribute to our academic mission and our efforts to diversify the graduate student body.”
In addition to earning her bachelor’s degree in history from Princeton, Weaver received a master of education degree from Harvard University, and two master’s degrees and a Ph.D. in U.S. history from Columbia University. Between 1997 and 2004, she was a research fellow at Columbia’s Institute for Research in African American Studies and helped establish a quarterly publication, Souls: A Critical Journal of Black Politics, Culture and Society, for which she served as senior associate editor from 1998 to 2000.
Weaver succeeded Danielle Gray, who resigned in January.
Marguerite d’Aprile-Smith
Marguerite d’Aprile-Smith has been named director of communications of the University Center for the Creative and Performing Arts.
d’Aprile-Smith has more than 20 years of experience in public relations, outreach, community development and research for a variety of arts and cultural institutions and nonprofit organizations. She worked for the New Jersey State Council on the Arts since 2004, serving for the last two years as director of external affairs. She implemented a communications plan for the council that demonstrated the public value of the arts.
For 12 years, d’Aprile-Smith was senior editor of the J. Paul Getty Trust’s Art & Architecture Thesaurus and traveled internationally presenting seminars, lectures and workshops. She holds a bachelor of fine arts degree from the College of New Rochelle and a master of arts degree from the State University of New York College at Oneonta Cooperstown Graduate Program.
At Princeton, d’Aprile-Smith will work in a variety of media to enhance the visibility of the University Center for the Creative and Performing Arts, which is part of a major initiative announced by President Tilghman in 2006 to enhance the role of the creative and performing arts in the life of the University and its community. She also will assist with fundraising and serve as an adviser for the new “arts and transit neighborhood” that is part of a 10-year plan being developed for the campus.
