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PRINCETon’s HARVARD GAME ASIAN AMERICAN CHEROKEE CHIEF PREVIEW STUDIES UPDATE PRINCETON ALUMNI WEEKLY THE ENGINEER Mother Nature, meet Frances Arnold ’79 OCTOBER 22, 2014 PAW.PRINCETON.EDU 00paw1022_CovFinal.indd 1 10/6/14 11:45 AM Nova Cæsarea: A Cartographic Record of the Garden State 1666-1888 Main Gallery, Firestone Library • Now through January 25, 2015 Curator Tours: October 26 and December 14 at 3 p.m. http://library.princeton.edu/njmaps FRIENDS OF THE ALSO ON VIEW PRINCETON UNIVERSITY LIBRARY Suits, Soldiers, and Hippies: Join the Friends of Princeton University Library at: The Vietnam War Abroad and at Princeton https://makeagift.princeton.edu/fpul/MakeAGift.aspx A new exhibition at the Mudd Manuscript Library highlights materials from the To purchase publications from the Public Policy Papers and the University Archives that document the war’s course Rare Books and Special Collections through the view of policymakers as well as student reaction to the war. On view go to: http://www.dianepublishing.net/ now until June 5, 2015. See: http://www.princeton.edu/mudd/ for more details. Rare Books 9-2014.indd 2 10/2/2014 1:09:07 PM October 22, 2014 Volume 115, Number 3 An editorially independent magazine by alumni for alumni since 1900 PRESIDENT’S PAGE 2 INBOX 3 FROM THE EDITOR 5 ON THE CAMPUS 7 Socioeconomic diversity Feeding Princeton Boost for Asian American studies Recruiting graduate students New apartments behind schedule SPORTS: Harvard- game preview Princeton’s first football team More Past LIFE OF THE MIND 17 Effort versus talent Self- Times of driving car How political leaders size each other up PRINCETONIANS 31 Reminiscences Cordaro Rodriguez ’08 and Sons of Serendip Mary 1951: of Fernandez *96, mentor Q&A with Jonathan Rapping Class *92, MacArthur “genius” Christopher Beha ’02 explores Serendip; fame in new novel of Football team of 1869, page 15 Sons CLASS NOTES 38 MEMORIALS 56 The Cherokee Chief 20 Evolution Gets an Assist 24 courtesy William Potter Ross 1842 worked to keep Creating new proteins in her California lab, CLASSIFIEDS 61 his people united after their ordeal on the Frances Arnold ’79 shows you can improve Trail of Tears. on Mother Nature. Wikipedia; THAT WAS THEN 64 By W. Barksdale Maynard ’88 By Mark F. Bernstein ’83 ’15; Gürel PAW.PRINCETON.EDU Aleka k’90; Nathan Eli left: Football Pioneers Behind the Scenes Witness to History Prime-Time Players All That Jazz from Read biographies View images from Despite his role in Listen to Cordaro Dick Snedeker ’51 k’90; of the alumni who Theatre Intime’s the nation’s founding Rodriguez ’08 recalls a favorite represented Princeton production of Oliver Ellsworth 1766 and Sons of Serendip, campus band in the Nathan in college football’s Red, a play about is mostly forgotten. America’s Got new episode of Eli first season. Mark Rothko. Talent finalists. PAW Tracks. Top: On the cover: Frances Arnold ’79. Photograph by Steve Anderson. Bobby Simmons, marching from Selma to Montgomery for voting rights, put zinc oxide on his face to protect against the sun. He asked another marcher to write his convictions on his forehead. — Condensed by Constance Hale ’79 THE PRESIDENT’S PAGE Our Culture of Continuous Improvement he senior thesis is iconic — a rite of passage that links rage throughout higher education about how to assess student today’s students to generations of Princetonians. achievement and progress, Princeton’s senior thesis is a model T Yet, like all great Princeton traditions, the thesis not vehicle for both catalyzing and assessing students’ intellectual only endures, it lives, grows, and changes. We recently took and personal growth. steps to enhance the thesis experience, spurred by practices The Middle States accreditors wanted to learn more about of peer review that undergird the quality of American higher the thesis, particularly about how the writing and evaluation education. process is structured, how we convey standards and evaluative In 2013-14, Princeton successfully completed our decennial criteria to students, and how we ensure that feedback from reaccreditation effort through the Middle States Commission students is taken into account by our 34 academic departments. on Higher Education, an independent organization recognized In addressing those questions, we took the opportunity to ask by the federal government to assess institutions ranging ourselves how we could do better. from community colleges to research universities. Leading Dean Marsh and Director of Undergraduate Research institutions sometimes regard accreditation as nothing more Pascale Poussart collaborated with department chairs than a periodic burden — rather akin to undergoing an IRS and representatives, as well as the Princeton Writing audit. But, if approached constructively, reaccreditation Program staff, to develop a new set of written guidelines offers an opportunity for peer review that reinforces a great for senior theses. Many departments had written resources university’s culture of continuous improvement. to help students through the thesis process, but few had a Our multiyear Middle States compliance process required comprehensive guide. intensive work from many across campus to address questions These excellent new guides, which rolled out last fall on about whether we are meeting our educational goals and the dean’s website and on departmental websites, have been how we assess student learning. The work was spearheaded extremely well received by students. While the guides convey by a steering committee of faculty and administrators led by individual departments’ perspectives and personalities, they Deputy Dean of the College Clayton Marsh and Professor share many elements, such as information on key dates and Michael Jennings from the Department of German, with deadlines, campus resources, submission guidelines, grading superb support from Associate Dean of the College Elizabeth standards, and the objectives, importance, and challenges of Colagiuri. independent work. “The essence of scholarly research is the creation of new knowledge through careful, systematic study,” the Department ALIO of Chemistry’s guide says. “Thus your thesis work is expected to make a recognizable and novel contribution to the body of knowledge in your field. Note that this definition transcends all DANIELLE fields, and defines the common element in Princeton theses on topics as diverse as religion and chemistry.” The Department of Slavic Languages and Literatures’ guide advises students, “Writing a thesis — or a doctoral dissertation, or a book — is like life as a whole. There are ups and downs, but the more of yourself that you put into it, the more meaningful and satisfying the experience will be.” Each guide has customized information, including an overview of the field and departmental resources. The Department of Comparative Literature’s guide, for example, stresses the vital features of senior thesis workshops: “These Senior thesis workshops are sources of “structure, solidarity, caffeine, workshops are coordinated with departmental deadlines, and pizza, and chocolate.” have specific goals such as bibliographic management, writing the prospectus, and revising drafts. They generally provide A major element of the process was a thorough self-study of structure, solidarity, caffeine, pizza, and chocolate.” Princeton’s internationalization initiatives, which culminated Faculty members reviewed the guides prior to publication, in the steering committee issuing a report last February with helping to stimulate important conversations within each numerous recommendations. These include piloting a new department about the thesis process. The creation of the guides semester-long study-abroad program featuring clusters of also has led some departments to rethink their junior seminars courses taught by Princeton faculty from different departments, that introduce students to research methods in their fields, as well as expanding global internship opportunities. This which may lead to some beneficial curricular changes. report (available at www.princeton.edu/strategicplan/ These guides are in my view — to borrow a phrase reports) will inform our campus-wide strategic planning often used to describe the thesis itself — “quintessentially process and help guide our thinking about the essential role of Princeton.” They are a wonderful example, along with our internationalization in Princeton’s educational mission. internationalization initiatives, of Princeton building upon The reaccreditation process also moved us to think our defining traditions to strengthen our commitment to deeply about the capstone of undergraduate education at teaching and research and give our students the best possible the University. When asked how we assess student leaning, educational experience. we pointed (as we have done for generations) to the senior thesis — independent research demonstrating the skills that students develop through working intimately with faculty in our distinctive model of liberal arts education. As debates PAW PROVIDES THESE PAGES TO PRESIDENT CHRISTOPHER L. EISGRUBER ’83 YOUR VIEWS RETHINKING GRADING WHAT IS CONSCIOUSNESS? WOMEN’S NOVELS Inbox FROM PAW’S PAGES: 112847 DOWNSIDES OF GRADING POLICY the favor: Dump the curve, and let the My wife and I both read “About-Face professors give out the marks they think on Grading?” (On the Campus, Sept. the students deserve. 17) with concern about the faculty Jay Granzow ’93 committee’s fi nding that there was no Los Angeles, Calif. evidence the grading policy has harmed graduates in seeking a job or applying One of the best parts to graduate school. My wife is an of Princeton was attorney at a Fortune 500 company who learning from peers — previously had worked at a large U.S. law fi rm, and I am an associate professor which, in my opinion, is of surgery at UCLA. In our experiences, stifl ed with the grade- it’s been absolutely clear that grade defl ation policy. with the grade-defl ation policy. Please defl ation hurts applicants. Whether it’s end it. law fi rms hiring attorneys or faculty I urge the University to end the Christine Adams Osborn ’87 ranking medical students for residency grade-defl ation policy.