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On Alumni Day, February 23, the University awarded its top alumni honors this year to Lawrence P. Goldman *69 *76, recipient of the James Madison Medal awarded to an alumnus or alumna of the Graduate School who has achieved a distinguished record of public service; and John Rogers Jr. '80, recipient of the Woodrow Wilson Award given to an undergraduate alumnus or alumna whose career embodies the call to duty in Wilson’s famous speech, “Princeton in the Nation’s Service.” Visiting alumni also applauded those who work hard at Princeton and for Princeton.
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Lawrence P. Goldman *69 *76: The Transformative Power of the Arts |
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 When Lawrence P. Goldman *69 *76 arrived at Princeton in the summer of 1967, it was only 30 days after riots devastated the city of Newark. He found that the violent upheaval in New Jersey’s largest city set the course for his graduate work. “It was impossible to think about urban policy in those days without thinking about what was happening right down the road,” he said.
Goldman,who earned his MPA and PhD from the Woodrow Wilson School, came back to campus on Alumni Day to receive the 2008 James Madison Medal—awarded annually to a distinguished alumnus or alumna of the Graduate School—in recognition of his work as president and CEO of the New Jersey Performing Arts Center (NJPAC) in Newark. Goldman is a leading figure behind the city’s revival from decades of urban decline.
Goldman’s graduate work at Princeton led him to Kenneth A. Gibson, who became Newark’s first African American mayor. After working on Gibson’s campaign and serving as an adviser to his administration, Goldman became executive vice president of the ambitious project that turned New York City’s Roosevelt Island into a residential community.
He then went to work for Isaac Stern as vice president of Carnegie Hall, where he spent nine years restoring and renovating New York City’s historic performance venue. In 1989 he took on an even greater challenge as president of the proposed NJPAC, which was envisioned as a cultural beacon in the city’s civic regeneration. Goldman set out to build a performing arts center that would spur economic activity, attract diverse local and regional audiences, and provide cultural and educational outreach to the local community. When NJPAC opened its doors in October 1997, it signaled an urban metamorphosis.
In his Alumni Day address, Goldman emphasized the transformative power of the arts. He spoke of how art can be used to enrich education, improve people’s relationship to society, and become a force for change in cities. Calling the arts an “urban steroid,” Goldman said most new investors in Newark since 1997 have cited NJPAC and its success as their reason for investing in the city.
He is now working to further expand NJPAC. “I think arts centers have to become town squares for their communities,” he said, “offering a full range of activities, in addition to performances. In a world where people tend to be disconnected by electronics, arts centers can play the role of rehumanizing human intercourse.”
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John Rogers Jr '80: Working as a Team Leads to Success for All |
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 John Rogers Jr. ’80 founded Ariel Capital Management in 1983 with two employees. Now this mutual fund firm has more than 100 employees and $15.5 billion in assets under management for corporate, public, union, and nonprofit organizations.
Rogers is a leading civic activist in his hometown, where he is vice chairman of the Chicago Urban League and a trustee of the University of Chicago. He cites Princeton’s legendary coach Pete Carril as a major inspiration for his successful and influential career. An undergraduate economics major, he was a star basketball player, captain of the varsity team, and winner of the 1980 B. F. Bunn Trophy as the team’s most valuable player.
On Alumni Day he returned to campus to receive the 2008 Woodrow Wilson Award. “The attitude and approach I took to Chicago when I started my business career were direct results of playing for Coach Pete Carril,” Rogers said. “He was the best teacher I ever had. From him I learned that to be successful you have to think about your teammates first. The more you focus on them, the more good things happen for the team; and the better it is for the team, the better it is for you.”
Rogers has applied this lesson, he says, not only to his company but also to being a good teammate with his city, his community, and his alma mater. Ariel Capital has teamed with community partners to support the Ariel Community Academy, a public school that emphasizes financial literacy in its curriculum.
In the early 1990s, Rogers and Barack Obama helped lead fund-raising efforts for Project Vote, an effort to register African American voters in Chicago. An active AG volunteer during the Anniversary Campaign for Princeton, he also has served as a University trustee and is currently a member of the Princeton Varsity Club board of directors and the Alumni Schools Committee.
Rogers and his wife, Sharon R. Fairley ’82, are members of the Association of Black Princeton Alumni (ABPA). He is the first African American recipient of the Wilson Award, which is given annually to an undergraduate alumnus or alumna whose career embodies the spirit of Wilson’s speech, “Princeton in the Nation’s Service.”
“John Rogers is an ideal choice for this year’s Woodrow Wilson Award,” said Kenneth M. Bruce ’83, co-president of the ABPA. “His business success and the exemplary way that he has approached some of society’s problems serve as a role model for us all.”
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Annual Giving Recognizes Volunteer Service |
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 Annual Giving Chair Raj Vinnakota ’93 presented the Class of 1926 Trophy to the Class of 1982 for raising the largest sum for Annual Giving last year. For their 25th Reunion, class members contributed an all-time record of $7,813,832 to AG, led by Class Agent Heather Dembert Rafter, Special Gifts Chair Paul H. Bartlett, Participation Chair Michael J. Salmanson, and Class President Richard D. Gorelick.
Kudos in the form of the Jerry Horton Award went to the Princeton Alumni Association of New Orleans, chaired by David L. Patron ’90. The award, which honors outstanding regional results, recognized the New Orleans group’s sustained level of participation—solidly above 60 percent—for the past five years, even through the dislocations of Hurricane Katrina.
For “exemplary and sustained” service to AG, the Harold H. Helm Award was presented to Dennis J. Keller ’63, charter trustee, co-chair of the Anniversary Campaign for Princeton, and a stalwart leader in his class’s AG campaigns.
(From left, Michael J. Salmanson ’82, Dennis J. Keller ’63, Heather Dembert Rafter ’82, Frederick G. Strobel ’74, and Paul H. Bartlett ’82)
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Students Awarded Pyne Prize and Jacobus Fellowship |
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 Congratulations also were extended to outstanding students. Mechanical and aerospace engineering major and Rhodes Scholar Landis J. Stankievech ’08 and Woodrow Wilson School major and Marshall Scholarship winner Sarah B. Vander Ploeg ’08 shared the Pyne Honor Prize, Princeton’s highest distinction for undergraduates who exemplify outstanding scholarship, character, and leadership.
Four graduate students who received Jacobus Fellowships were recognized for the scholarly excellence of their work: Thomas S. Clark of the politics department, whose dissertation examines the power struggle between Congress and the Supreme Court; Kellam M. Conover of the classics department, who has studied bribery in ancient Athens; Vasily S. Pestun of the physics department, whose research focuses on string theory; and Ning Wu of the chemical engineering department, who studies the electrohydrodynamic patterning of thin polymer films.
(From left, President Tilghman, Pyne Prize winners Landis J. Stankievech ’08 and Sarah B. Vander Ploeg ’08, Jacobus Fellows Kellam M. Conover, Vasily S. Pestun, and Ning Wu, and Dean of the Graduate School William B. Russel)
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