Nassau notes

Hugh Price

Princeton will commemorate the legacy of Martin Luther King Jr. with its annual King Day celebration Monday, Jan. 19, in Richardson Auditorium of Alexander Hall. The event, which is free and open to the public, will start with musical selections at 1 p.m.

The theme of this year’s program follows the hotly contested presidential election and asks, “If he were alive today, what would Dr. King most want our newly elected president to be concerned about?”

The event will include the presentation of awards to essay, poster and video contest winners in grades 4 through 12 from area schools. The students submitted entries in which they assumed the role of a cabinet member advising the president on a key issue that would be of particular interest to King. The names of the contest winners will be posted on the University’s King Day website at www.princeton.edu/mlk, and many of the posters also will be on display Jan. 19.

During the program the University will present the MLK Day Journey Award, which recognizes a member of the Princeton faculty, staff or student body who best represents King’s continued journey. The event also will include a performance by Oasis Youth Steel Pan Ensemble, which is part of the Oasis Folk Arts Academy program in Newark, N.J.

The keynote address will be delivered by Hugh Price, the John Weinberg/Goldman Sachs Visiting Professor of Public and International Affairs in the Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs.

Price, who began a five-year appointment at Princeton this academic year, is the former head of the National Urban League. He has dedicated his life to advocating for civil rights and equal opportunity. During his time at Princeton, he will lead courses that explore the many ways in which governments, foundations and nonprofit organizations can use their resources and influence to address social issues.

In addition to serving as president of the National Urban League for nearly a decade, Price has been a vice president of the Rockefeller Foundation focusing on at-risk youth, a senior vice president of the Thirteen/WNET public television station in New York and a member of the editorial board of The New York Times, writing about education and criminal justice. Price is the recipient of many honorary degrees and awards.

The King Day event will be webcast live at www.princeton.edu/webmedia. It is convened by the University’s Martin Luther King Day Committee and is coordinated by the Office of the Provost and the Office of Human Resources.

Firestone exhibition features Japanese woodblock print collection

Among the images in the Japanese woodblock print exhibition is “Reclining Couple Reading a Love Letter” (ca. 1804-1818) by artist Kikugawa Eizan. (image courtesy of Graphic Arts Division, Firestone Library)

An exhibition of Japanese woodblock prints, highlighting changing fashions and evolving print technologies in that country from the late 1600s to the mid-1800s, will run from Jan. 18 through June 7 in Firestone Library’s Milberg Gallery.

“Beauty and Bravado in Japanese Woodblock Prints: Highlights From the Gillett G. Griffin Collection” features works donated by Griffin, curator emeritus of the University’s Graphic Arts Collection. Griffin retired in 2004 after 52 years at Princeton.

In 1947, when Griffin was a student at Yale University’s School of Fine Arts, one of his professors invited a Japanese print dealer to visit. Griffin’s eye fell on a small black-and-white print, which he purchased for $2. The dealer was impressed that such a young man would see the beauty in what turned out to be a print by 17th-century artist Hishikawa Moronobu. By the end of the year, Griffin had a collection of almost 70 classic Japanese woodblock prints. He continued to study and collect for more than 60 years.

A reception and gallery tour will be held at 4 p.m. Sunday, Jan. 25, for the opening of the “Beauty and Bravado” exhibition. A lecture on Japanese prints will be given by Julie Davis, a professor of art history at the University of Pennsylvania, at 3 p.m. Sunday, May 3, in 101 McCormick Hall, followed by a reception in the Milberg Gallery.

The exhibition’s hours are: 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday, Tuesday, Thursday and Friday; 9 a.m. to 8 p.m. Wednesday; and noon to 5 p.m. Saturday and Sunday.

More information can be found at blogs.princeton.edu/graphicarts/2008/08/beauty_and_bravado_in_japanese.html.

Discussion, viewing planned for Obama inauguration

A faculty panel discussion and a viewing of Barack Obama’s inauguration as the 44th U.S. president are planned for Tuesday, Jan. 20, in Dodds Auditorium, Robertson Hall.

Beginning at 11 a.m., former U.S. Rep. James Leach, the John L. Weinberg/Goldman Sachs and Co. Visiting Professor of Public and International Affairs, and Brandice Canes-Wrone, professor of politics and public affairs, will discuss the new Obama administration. Leach, a 1964 Princeton graduate, served for 30 years as a Republican congressman from Iowa. Canes-Wrone, who graduated from Princeton in 1993, specializes in presidential, legislative and bureaucratic politics as well as the study of elections.

The discussion will be moderated by Nolan McCarty, associate dean of the Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs and the Susan Dod Brown Professor of Politics and Public Affairs.

The panel will be followed at noon by a viewing of the inauguration of Obama and Vice President-elect Joe Biden. A reception in Robertson Hall’s Bernstein Gallery will begin at 1 p.m.

The event is sponsored by the Wilson School, the Center for the Study of Democratic Politics and the Office of Community and Regional Affairs.

“What Is Peace?” – photographs taken around the world

“Dove of the Alhambra” by Andrew Watrous

This photograph, “Dove of the Alhambra” by Princeton senior Andrew Watrous, is one of 34 images on view through Dec. 1 in the Murray-Dodge Hall lobby. It is part of an exhibition of photographs taken around the world by Princeton community members showcasing diverse viewpoints on the question of “What Is Peace?” The exhibition also can be viewed online at web.princeton.edu/sites/chapel/whatispeace.

Bartels to speak at Labyrinth

Princeton political scholar Larry Bartels will discuss his book “Unequal Democracy: Political Economy in the New Gilded Age” at 5:30 p.m. Monday, Jan. 12, at Labyrinth Books, 122 Nassau St.

Bartels is the Donald E. Stokes Professor in Public and International Affairs and director of the Center for the Study of Democratic Politics. In “Unequal Democracy,” he explores the political causes and consequences of increasing economic equality in contemporary America.

The event is sponsored by Labyrinth and HomeFront, a Lawrenceville, N.J.-based organization that provides shelter and children’s programs to homeless families. Bartels has donated royalties from the book to HomeFront.

For more information about this and other events at Labyrinth, visit www.labyrinthbooks.com.

‘Gently used’ business, casual clothing needed for annual drive

The University is conducting its annual clothing drive Jan. 21-28 to benefit Suitably Dressed, an organization that collects “gently used” business attire for men and women.

The clothing goes to people who are entering or re-entering the work force, and all types of business and business-casual clothing in good condition are needed. These include suits, dress slacks, khakis, dress shirts, collared casual shirts, blazers, skirts, sweaters, dresses, jackets, coats, ties, belts, jewelry, handbags and other accessories.

Items can be brought to the Princeton Stadium ticket office weekdays between 8 and 9 a.m. and 12:30 and 1:30 p.m.

Volunteers are needed during collection hours. For more information or to volunteer to assist with the clothing drive, contact Erin Metro in the Office of Community and Regional Affairs at emetro@princeton.edu or 258-5144. The drive is coordinated by the Office of Community and Regional Affairs, the Department of Building Services and the Department of Athletics.

Nominations sought for teaching award

The Office of the Dean of the Faculty invites members of the University community to submit letters of nomination for the 2009 President’s Award for Distinguished Teaching.

The awards, presented annually at Commencement, are intended to recognize excellence in undergraduate and graduate teaching by Princeton faculty members. All current full, associate and assistant professors, senior lecturers and lecturers who have served at least half time for three or more years are eligible for nomination.

Letters of nomination should be sent by Tuesday, Feb. 3, to the Office of the Dean of the Faculty, 9 Nassau Hall.