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May 16, 2001: President's Page
The changing campus landscape
is a physical manifestation of the changing intellectual landscape,
and even a partial list of new buildings suggests new directions
for scholarship and research. Bowen Hall opened in 1989 as the home
for the then-new Princeton Materials Institute; the Marx Hall addition
to 1879 Hall was created in 1990 for the University Center for Human
Values; this fall the new Program in Finance moved into the renovated
Dial Lodge. The building at 83 Prospect Street is being converted
into headquarters for the Bobst Center for Peace and Justice. The
recently completed Wallace Hall helps accommodate new research programs
in the Woodrow Wilson School, including the Bendheim-Thoman Center
for Child Wellbeing, the Liechtenstein Institute on Self-Determination
and The Program in Law and Pubic Affairs. The addition of the Friend
Center and its classroom and library spaces will help free up space
in the Engineering Quadrangle that can be reallocated to new research
endeavors such as the program in photonics and optoelectronic materials
(POEM). Construction of the Lewis-Seigler
Center for Integrative Genomics will allow us to conduct pioneering
research on the recently mapped human genome. The center takes advantage
of faculty strengths across academic departments, including molecular
biology, chemistry and physics, and in this respect, genomics is
an excellent example of the growing importance of interdisciplinary
study to the academic enterprise. Through the –Princeton Atelier
Program, launched in 1994, faculty and students have opportunities
to collaborate with world-renowned professional artists on projects
that often bring together different sectors of the arts writers
and composers, for example. New academic programs that foster cross-discipline
research include the Center for the Study of Brain, Mind and Behavior
which, while housed in the Department of Psychology, draws on expertise
and advances in mathematics, physics, chemistry and molecular biology.
The split of the Department of Civil Engineering into the Department
of Operations Research and Financial Engineering, and the Department
of Civil and Environmental Engineering suggests alliances across
disciplines that have gained defining importance. Another example
of a department where interdisciplinary study has contributed to
a name change is the Department of Geosciences. The faculty proposed
substituting geosciences for and geophysical sciences because of
deepening connections to the natural sciences and engineering, and
the expanded range and breadth of their research programs. A renovated facility
or a new name alone cannot generate the momentum necessary to begin
a new endeavor or reinvigorate an older discipline; that depends
on the initiative and commitment of Princeton's faculty. In this
sense, our ability to continue to Advance the frontiers of knowledge
depends on our ability to attract and retain world-class scholar-teachers.
We know that two of the major attractions for faculty are the quality
of a university's graduate school and the presence oAf gifted post-doctoral
fellows. The enhancements to our financial aid program for graduate
students that the Trustees approved this year will help ensure the
outstanding quality of our Graduate School. In the past decade we
have created post-doctoral programs in the Council on Science and
Technology And the Society of Fellows in the Liberal Arts to help
guarantee a yearly infusion of new perspectives. Finally, let me mention
two very different joint ventures, both at the institutional level,
that we believe will make lasting Contributions to the scholarly
enterprise. The first is Princeton s participation in JSTOR, a not-for-profit
organization sponsored by the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, which
uses new technology to convert important scholarly journals, some
of which date to the 19th century, to a fully searchable electronic
database available on the Web. The project ensures that the information
in these journals is preserved and dramatically improves access
to valuable scholarly resources. For libraries here and at universities
around the world it will ease storage problems and reduce operating
costs. The second example is
an agreement we just entered into with Oxford University to facilitate
collaborative research partnerships and establish a significant
exchange of students, including undergraduates. As intellectual
horizons expand, it is becoming increasingly difficult for one institution
to cover all important aspects of a subject, and the equipment,
books or other resources necessary to support work in a subject
have also become increasingly costly. Moreover, research and learning
increasingly are global endeavors, involving collaboration among
faculty members and students from around the world. The collaboration
will create important new opportunities by drawing on the complementary
strengths and perspectives of faculty and students at two of the
world's leading universities. For me, one of the most
pleasurable ways of staying informed about new academic initiatives
is reading books written by Princeton faculty. I urge you to look
for new books by Princeton authors in areas of interest to you,
or, if you have the time, to take advantage of alumni colleges and
online courses offered by our faculty. I can guarantee that each
year you will learn about new landmarks in the intellectual landscape.
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I
devoted a recent President's page to an overview of major initiatives
begun in the past 13 years to sustain and foster excellence in teaching.
In this issue, I would like to focus on some of the academic initiatives
begun during my presidency and describe steps we have taken to help
ensure that Princeton remains at the forefront of scholarship and
research.
