48th Reunion Report: New Campus Spaces

By Howard Zien '71, Class Treasurer

For those of us who attended the 2019 Princeton and Class Reunion, the memory of the adverse impact that thunder and lightning had on the previous year was weighing on our minds. We need not have been concerned, because sun and warmth pervaded the weekend and the P-rade. And, of course, the warmth and sunshine contributed to all the class events of the weekend. These events, orchestrated by our class social event expert Jack Hittson, included:

• the class BBQ on Friday evening,
• the Saturday Class Lunch with members of our mentoring class, the Class of 2021,
• The P-rade, and
• The main event, the class cocktail party and dinner at Prospect on Saturday evening.
• And the university fireworks display later Saturday evening.

One of the reassuring aspects of returning to Princeton for Reunions, even off-year Reunions, is the sense of comfort that comes from the realization that no matter how fast the world is changing, Princeton remains largely the same and largely intact.

Reunions, of course, is a time to get back in touch with the spirit, outlook and sense of what life was like for us as young men and women. And of course to party. Reunions is a time for celebration.

But, Princeton being Princeton, there is a also a focused effort to provide educational seminars, presentations and panels to stimulate our minds. The seminar schedule appears as a printed brochure and, this being 2019, on the Reunion website as a link. The presentations are thought-provoking, entertaining, and challenging. For those of us who attended them, they were extremely rewarding. The description of course offerings include, as you might imagine:

• thumbnail summaries of the content
• time and
• place.

As it turns out, it is the last aspect of the description, the place, that turns out to be among the most challenging aspects of the reunion seminar events. As much as Princeton has remained the same for the past 48 years. It has also changed. Some of the presentations take place at Andlinger Center, McDonnell Hall, and the Lewis Center for the Arts. For us old-timers, locating them requires a handy smart phone and Google Maps.

So one of the surprising realizations that comes from returning to Princeton for Reunions is that the overall impression of familiarity is met with the sense that the University continues to innovate, to grow and to evolve.

Partly out of my frustration figuring out where these seminar meeting places are located, I have assembled a list of buildings which are new to me since we graduated. The length of list appears here and is impressive indeed.

Lewis Arts Complex (near train station)

Wallace Dance Building and Theatre

Effron Music

Arts Tower

Woodrow Wilson

Robertson Hall (formerly Woodrow Wilson Center)

Across from Library

Green

Near stadium (formerly Palmer Stadium, now Powers Field)

Fine Hall

McDonnell

Lewis Library (Geary designed)

Frick

Near the Engineering Quadrangle

Andlinger

Von Neuman

Friend Center

Rabinowitz Center

Simpson

Mudd Library

Bendheim

Hoyt

Wallace

Fisher

Fields Center

Sherrerd

Fisher

South near the athletic fields

Guyot

Moffatt

Icahn

Princeton Neuroscience Institute

I encourage you to attend our 49th reunion, and before you do, visit this map, which you can find here.

You will find both the map and your attendance at our next class reunion rewarding indeed.

Registered or seen on campus were: Arbisser, Bagdis, Berg, Blackburn, Boyle, Chamberlain, Corcoran, DiFedele, Dreyfuss, Elfers, Fitzgerald, Good, Graydon, Grayson, Jeff Hammond, Henkelman, Pat Hess, Wally Hess, Jack Hittson, Ronnie Hittson, Holoszyc, Kieling, Lepore, Bill Lewis, Liddell, Lowenstein, Lynch, Macaleer, Mavros, Maxson, Mazo, McAdoo, McCarter, Muther, Ollwerther, Pike, Pitney, Pittman, Rickerson, Schankler, Senchesak, Snow, Tegarden, Usas, Walsh, Werner Bartolino, Wyper, and Zien.

See the photo collection in the Gallery here.