Nassau notes

Two leading scholars in the fields of education and science will be recognized Tuesday, Nov. 11, at the 25th annual award ceremony of the World Cultural Council. The ceremony will be hosted by Princeton and is free and open to the public.

The cultural council, a Mexico-based international organization that promotes academic achievement, will bestow its José Vasconcelos World Award of Education on Princeton President Emeritus William Bowen, and the council will give its Albert Einstein World Award of Science to Israel’s Ada Yonath, a professor of structural biology, in a ceremony at 4:30 p.m. in Richardson Auditorium, Alexander Hall.

Each year, the World Cultural Council chooses two leading scholars from around the world — one in the field of science and, in alternating years, the second either in education or the arts — whose work benefits society and selects a university to host the annual awards celebration.

“I am delighted that we can join the World Cultural Council in honoring two remarkable scholars, our own Bill Bowen and Ada Yonath of Israel’s Weizmann Institute,” President Tilghman said. “Like the council, Princeton is committed to fostering international understanding and the global exchange of knowledge, and the award ceremony will both celebrate and affirm this common mission.”

Bowen, who served as Princeton’s president from 1972 to 1988, and also is president emeritus of the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, is being recognized in the Nov. 11 ceremony for his work promoting the use of technology in education, in addition to creating educational opportunities for individuals who historically were disadvantaged in the college admission process by race, gender or socioeconomic background.

Yonath, who is the director of the Helen and Milton A. Kimmelman Center for Biomolecular Structure and Assembly at the Weizmann Institute for Science in Israel, will receive the Einstein World Award in recognition of her pioneering contributions to protein biosynthesis in the field of ribosomal crystallography. Techniques she developed are now used routinely in many laboratories, with applications in the development and design of new antibiotics.

Bowen and Yonath will share perspectives on their work in academic lectures the day before the awards ceremony. Yonath’s lecture, titled “The Stunning Architecture of the Ribosome and the Wisdom of Its Antibiotics,” will be at 1:30 p.m. Monday, Nov. 10, in 104 Computer Science Building. Bowen’s lecture, “Disparities in Educational Opportunity in the U.S.: Causes and Cures,” will be at 4:30 p.m. in 104 Computer Science Building the same day.

Murray-Dodge exhibition: “What Is Family? Princeton Views”

“A Generation,” taken by 2008 Princeton graduate Nathan Crumpton, is among the photographs featured in “What Is Family? Princeton Views,” an exhibition depicting the powerful connective force of family.

The exhibition runs through Dec. 1 in the Murray-Dodge Hall lobby and includes some 30 images by the members of the University community expressing views on family through various configurations and emotions. It also can be viewed online at web.princeton.edu/sites/chapel/whatisfamily.

Tanner Lectures explore ‘seeds of humanity’

Marc Hauser, a psychologist and biologist who examines the links between the minds of humans and other animals, will present the annual Tanner Lectures on Human Values at 4:30 p.m. Wednesday and Thursday, Nov. 12-13, in McCosh 50. The theme of the lectures is the “The Seeds of Humanity.”

Hauser is a professor of psychology, biological anthropology, and organismic and evolutionary biology at Harvard University. His research focuses on the evolutionary and developmental foundations of the human mind, with the goal of understanding which mental capacities are shared with nonhuman primates and which are uniquely human.

Hauser has been a faculty member at Harvard since 1992 and is co-director of its Mind, Brain and Behavior Program. His honors include a Guggenheim Fellowship, a National Science Foundation Young Investigator Award and two Teaching Innovation Awards from Harvard.

Two scholars will serve as commentators for each of Hauser’s lectures: Helena Cronin of the London School of Economics and Susan Gelman of the University of Michigan for the first; and Simon Blackburn of the University of Cambridge and Walter Sinnott-Armstrong of Dartmouth University for the second.

The lectures are sponsored by the University Center for Human Values.

Art Museum exhibition: “Jasper Johns: Light Bulb”

(photo © Jasper Johns / Licensed by VAGA, New York, NY)

The traveling exhibition “Jasper Johns: Light Bulb” debuted this fall at the Princeton University Art Museum, where works by the American artist will be on view through Jan. 4.

The light bulb made its initial appearance early in Johns’ career in a 1957 drawing of a bare bulb hanging from an electrical cord. It was also the subject of his first sculpture, “Light Bulb I” (1958), shown here. The exhibition brings together for the first time Johns’ light bulb sculptures and the related works on paper, including several drawings from the artist’s collection that have never before been exhibited.

Veterans Day observance set

A Veterans Day observance is planned for 8:30 to 9 a.m. Tuesday, Nov. 11, in the University Chapel.

Remarks will be delivered by Uwe Reinhardt, Princeton’s James Madison Professor of Political Economy. His son Mark, a member of the class of 2001, served two tours with the Marines, one in Iraq and the other in Afghanistan.

The program also will include an invocation and blessing by Alison Boden, the University’s dean of religious life and of the chapel; a cello interlude by Mary Rorro, staff psychiatrist at the James J. Howard Veterans Administration Clinic in Brick, N.J.; the singing of “The Star-Spangled Banner’’ by Kenneth Grayson, foreman in the University electrical shop; and a presentation of the colors by the Princeton Army ROTC color guard.

The University and local communities are invited to attend the event, which is sponsored by the Office of the Vice President for Campus Life, the Princeton Army ROTC, the Office of the Dean of Religious Life and of the Chapel, and alumni and friends of Princeton University ROTC.

Red Sox, Celtics chiefs to speak

Larry Lucchino (left) and Wyc Grousbeck

Two alumni who have helped lead Boston sports franchises to recent championships will discuss their experiences at 7:30 p.m. Thursday, Nov. 13, in McCosh 50.

The discussion, titled “Building a Champion: A Conversation With Larry Lucchino and Wyc Grousbeck,” will be moderated by Gary Walters, Princeton’s director of athletics.

Lucchino, a 1967 graduate, is the president and chief executive officer and a member of the ownership group of the Boston Red Sox, who won baseball’s World Series in 2004 and 2007. Lucchino also has served as president and CEO of the Baltimore Orioles and the San Diego Padres.

Grousbeck, a member of the class of 1983, led an investment group that purchased the Boston Celtics in 2002. He serves as managing partner, governor and CEO of the Celtics, who won the 2007-08 National Basketball Association title. Grousbeck previously was a general partner of Highland Capital Partners, a venture capital firm.

The discussion is part of the Jake McCandless Speaker Series sponsored by the Princeton Varsity Club.

Theater show restages Trojan War

“Troy: After and Before,” the annual fall show sponsored by the Program in Theater and Dance in the Lewis Center for the Arts, will be performed at 8 p.m. Friday and Saturday, Nov. 14-15, and Thursday through Saturday, Nov. 20-22, at the Berlind Theatre.

The production will feature two very different takes on the Trojan War: Aeschylus’ “Agamemnon,” as translated by the late Princeton scholar Robert Fagles, and Euripides’ “Iphigenia at Aulis,” as translated by senior Lucas Barron. It is directed by Tim Vasen, a lecturer in theater and dance and the Lewis Center, whose previous work at the Berlind includes “Boris Godunov” and “The Playboy of the Western World.”

The project originated in a theater and dance class last spring titled “Re: Staging the Greeks,” which also was sponsored by the Program in Hellenic Studies. Sixteen undergraduates read and performed works by Aeschylus, Sophocles, Euripides and Aristophanes. During spring break, the class and its instructors — Vasen and Michael Cadden, director of the Program in Theater and Dance — visited ancient Greek theaters and worked with local theater professionals with an interest in restaging Greek tragedy for contemporary audiences. Nine members of the class now are part of the 16-member cast.

Ticket prices range from $10 to $15. They are available by calling the McCarter Theatre Center box office at 258-ARTS, calling University Ticketing at 258-9220 or visiting www.princeton.edu/utickets.

CPUC meeting set for Nov. 10

The Council of the Princeton University Community (CPUC) will meet from 4:30 to 6 p.m. Monday, Nov. 10, in 101 Friend Center. All members of the University community are invited to attend.

Agenda items include a presentation by Provost Christopher Eisgruber on the work of the Priorities Committee, one of the standing committees of the CPUC. The committee is reviewing the operating budget and requests for budget increases or new funding for the fiscal year beginning July 1, 2009. Its report will be finalized for presentation to the Board of Trustees for approval in January.

Eisgruber will update the council on the work of the committee. In addition, he will discuss the likely impact of the current economic climate on the University, especially on the operating and capital budgets.

The agenda also includes an update on Transportation Demand Management, the shuttle service and parking from Kim Jackson, director of Transportation and Parking Services.

For more information, visit www.princeton.edu/~vp/cpuc.

Danish U.S. ambassador to speak

“The EU as a Rising Superpower” is the title of a lecture by Denmark’s ambassador to the United States, Friis Arne Petersen, set for 4:30 p.m. Wednesday, Nov. 12, in 16 Robertson Hall.

Petersen was the head of Denmark’s foreign ministry from 1997 until 2005, when he assumed his current position.

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

N.Y. Times reporter to discuss wars

New York Times correspondent Dexter Filkins will discuss his new book about the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, titled “The Forever War,” at 4:30 p.m. Wednesday, Nov. 12, in McCosh 10.

“The Forever War” chronicles the extreme violence Filkins has witnessed in covering the wars. His talk is sponsored by the Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs and the Council of the Humanities.