November 24, 1997  Volume 87, Number 11 | Prev | Next | Index
Princeton University Office of Communications, Stanhope Hall, Princeton, NJ 0854

Notterman: doctor, researcher, adviser
By JoAnn Gutin

Laughter may be the best medicine, but reassurance runs a close second. And Daniel Notterman, MD, dispenses large doses of reassurance, along with information, advice and a sympathetic ear. "One of the most important parts of my job," he says, "is to deflect anxiety."
     The job he's referring to is chair of the Committee on the Health Professions, a task he assumed in 1996. In that role, which he performs in tandem with Jane Cary, director of Health Professions Advising, Notterman helps undergraduates aspiring to medical careers thread their way through the grueling application process. Notterman is also a practicing pediatrician and a molecular biology researcher.

462 students take Spanish language
By Caroline Moseley

It is 11:00 a.m. in a tiny classroom in the upper reaches of East Pyne. Fourteen students in Spanish 105, Intermediate Spanish, are analyzing -- in animated if intermediate Spanish -- a film: Pedro Almodovar's 1988 comedy Mujeres al borde de un ataque de nervios ("Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown"). Discussion is lively, but should it flag, it is stimulated by questions from Senior Lecturer in Romance Languages and Literatures Margarita Navarro, who leads this class and coordinates Princeton's Spanish language instruction.

Her immediate task is to help students fulfill their University language requirement. However, her approach is "to integrate literature along with grammar and vocabulary as soon as possible."

Freshmen study extraterrestrials
By Mary Caffrey

In a delicate hand not seen today, the 18th-century astronomer Sir William Herschel pondered the accepted relationship between the Earth and the Moon:
     "When we call our Earth a planet and the Moon a satellite, we should consider whether we do not perhaps mistake the matter, in a certain sense. Perhaps, and not unlikely, the Moon is the planet and the Earth the satellite."
     A group of freshmen struggled with Herschel's penmanship, which offers the only access to a journal that was never published. Studying handwritten work is not a typical assignment for first-year students, but these Butler College freshmen volunteered.

At Forbes College, call 1-800-CIF-ELLI
By Pam Hersh

"Just Say No?" Not when it comes to helping his kids, says Tony Cifelli, building supervisor of Forbes College.

When Cifelli refers to "his kids," he means all the students who have ever resided in his "home" -- Forbes. Each year he introduces himself to the students and tells them to call Tony ("1-800-CIF-ELLI," quipped a student) if they need "anything at all."

PWB Editor