UN leader urges support of global action to preserve world order
by Kitta MacPherson
The secretary-general of the United Nations issued an urgent plea to a Princeton audience for support of his policy of a “new multilateralism,” a program with an ambitious agenda to unite nations in tackling a host of destabilizing threats that endanger world order. “Absent decisive action at this time, I am afraid we face the realistic prospect of our existing system unraveling,” said Ban Ki-moon, the eighth U.N. secretary-general, in an April 17 speech that mixed grim statistics with hope and humor.
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Exploring prejudice, stereotyping and the need to get along
by Ushma Patel
If people want to change the attitudes of those around them, they can wear their beliefs on their sleeve — literally, says social psychologist Stacey Sinclair. Sinclair, who joined the Princeton faculty as an associate professor of psychology and African American studies in July, studies the way interpersonal contact relates to ethnic and gender stereotyping, prejudice and discrimination of the self and others.
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Former civil engineering chair Norman Sollenberger dies at 96
Norman Sollenberger, a professor emeritus who served as the chair of Princeton’s Department of Civil Engineering from 1961 to 1971, died of heart failure April 8 at the University Medical Center at Princeton. He was 96. Colleagues credited Sollenberger with attracting talented faculty and research funding to civil engineering during his tenure as chair and with significantly increasing the number of bachelor and doctoral degree students the department graduated.
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Conference to launch Center for International Security Studies
The launch of the Center for International Security Studies (CISS), a new research center in the Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs, will be marked with a conference Thursday and Friday, April 30-May 1, in Robertson Hall. The center will be co-directed by Aaron Friedberg, a professor of politics and international affairs and former deputy national security adviser to Vice President Dick Cheney, and John Ikenberry, a professor of politics and international affairs and the academic co-chair of the Princeton Project on National Security, a multiyear, bipartisan initiative to develop a new national security strategy for the United States.
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Probing the ‘mystery’ of bias perceptions
by Emily Aronson
For those who consider their judgments fair and their thoughts rational, social psychologist Emily Pronin offers this piece of cautionary research: Most people think they’re objective, but they’re not. Take, for example, physicians who are accused of skewing their patient-care decisions in order to support drug companies that give them free gifts, or judges who are accused of decisions that reflect personal friendships or political ideology. Though these individuals’ biases may seem obvious to outsiders, those involved tend to claim objectivity.
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Cross-disciplinary mission resonates at Keller Center dedication
Dennis Keller, who graduated from Princeton in 1963 with a degree in economics, and his wife, Constance Templeton Keller, were honored during a dedication ceremony April 16 for endowing a center in Princeton’s School of Engineering and Applied Science. The Keller Center for Innovation in Engineering Education is a cross-disciplinary initiative focused on preparing Princeton students to be leaders in an increasingly complex and technology-driven society.
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Managing editor: Eric Quiñones
Assistant editor: Jennifer Greenstein Altmann
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Contributing writers:
Emily Aronson, Chris Emery, Kitta MacPherson, Ushma Patel, Ruth Stevens
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Web edition: Mahlon Lovett
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