Alumni Day 2020

February 22

The day featured multiple events, culminating in the class dinner and Locomotive Award.

1. In the morning, award speeches at Richardson Auditorium (originally underwritten by our late classmate Dave Richardson in honor of his father David Richardson '33) by the two top alumni awardees for the year. More here.

2. Many lectures and symposia across the campus Saturday all day, as well as evening athletic events.

3. The Alumni Association lunch at Jadwin. The two prize winners received their awards, along with others including the Pyne Prize winners.

4. The very moving Service of Remembrance at the Chapel, at which we remember Princetonians whose deaths were recorded during the prior calendar year.  Our classmate Glenn Goltz marched on behalf of the class this year. The nine classmates honored were: Richard Smith, Steve Craig, Bill Reed, Richard Welcome, Pete Berry, Mike Burrill, Ken Harney, Frank Remley, and Frank Biondi.

Alumni Day highlights, including the presentations, are on the Alumni Association website.

Class Dinner, Locomotive Award, and Guest Speaker

The Class Dinner was held at the Present Day Club and attracted a large group of classmates, spouses, friends, and one class grandchild. A complete list is at the end.

Following cocktails, Class VP Bill "Roller" Leahy introduced classmate Terry Eakin (click here for the introduction), who received the Class of 1966 Locomotive Award from Kit Mill.  Terry has been a national innovator in the construction of urban housing and a tireless advocate for education reform.

Following dinner, Master of Ceremonies Jim Merritt introduced this year's speaker: Sam Wang.

Professor Wang is a Princeton neuoscientist who at our class dinner in 2010 spoke on the human brain. At our 2020 dinner he spoke on an entirely different subject — gerrymandering. Sam has a long-standing interest in U.S. elections and is the founder of the Princeton Election Consortium, which focuses on election polling, and the Princeton Gerrymandering Project, which deals with the manipulation of congressional and legislative districts to favor one political party over another — or as one critic has put it, “politicians picking their voters instead of voters picking their politicians.” Gerrymandering is important and timely because 2020 is a census year, and in 2021 state legislatures will be using the census results to redraw new legislative and congressional districts. The Princeton Gerrymandering Project provides analysis and interactive tools to make redistricting politically neutral. As stated on its website, “We bridge the gap between mathematics and the law to achieve fair representation through redistricting reform.” For more information, click here.

Classmates and Friends on Hand